UC-NRLF 


SB    hT    3Efi 


GIFT   OF 
MICHAEL  REESE 


r 


From  a  photograph  by  Maudsley 
TKOCALLI    OF    THE    SUN,    I'ALENQUE,    YUCATAN 

Discovered  about  1750;  28x38  feet  on  the  ground,  about  25  feet  high  without  the  "  roof-comb,"  a  feature  of 
the  Palcnque  buildings  here  particularly  well  preserved.  Like  all  the  structures  of  the  group,  this  crowns 
a  mound  of  considerable  height.  The  construction  is  stone  ;  ornamentation,  stucco.  Charnay  calls  atten 
tion  to  the  resemblance  to  a  Japanese  temple.  On  pages  210,  235,  and  237  constructive  features  are  shown, 
on  page  185  is  a  reproduction  of  a  tablet  from  it,  and  on  page  238,  second  figure,  is  the  ground  plan.  Page 
404  gives  another  of  the  group,  and  page  436  shows  geographical  location. 


The  North- Americans 
of  Yesterday 

A  Comparative  Study  of  North- American   Indian  Life 

Customs,  and  Products,  on  the  Theory  of 

the  Ethnic  Unity  of  the  Race 

By 
Frederick  S.  Dellenbaugh 


"  But  their  name  is  on  your  waters, 
Ye  may  not  wash  it  out." 


UNIVERSITY]        With  over  350  Illustrations 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and   London 
ZTbe  Iknicfeerbocfcer  press 

1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1900 

BY 
FREDERICK  S.  DELLENBAUGH 


TTbe  "fcnfcfeetbocfeer  press,  flew  H?orfe 


To 
MAJOR   POWELL 

WHOSE  COURAGE  SOLVED  THE  PROBLEM 

OF  THE 

COLORADO  RIVER 

AND  WHOSE  FORESIGHT  ESTABLISHED 
THE    BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 

THIS  BOOK 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 
IN    MEMORY   OF   DAYS 
AFLOAT  AND  AFIELD 


82565 
REESE 


MOKI    DRAWINGS    OF    STARS 


PREFACE 

THE  basis  of  this  volume  is  eight  lectures  given  before  the 
Lowell  Institute  in  Boston  in  1894.     They  have  been  ex 
panded  by  the  addition  of  further  matter  relating  to  the 
various  subjects,  but  even  with  these  additions  there  is  but  a  brief 
rhume  of  the  vast  store  of  material  extant. 

The  "  Indian  "  has  never  seemed  to  me  an  abnormal  factor,  but 
rather  a  natural  part  of  our  society,  for  it  is  now  nearly  thirty  years 
since  I  first  associated  with  him  in  the  Far  West,  and  before  that 
the  Iroquois  were  familiar  to  me  as  a  small  boy.  When  I  first 
went  among  the  Western  tribes,  it  was  with  the  second  Colorado 
River  expedition  of  that  gallant  explorer  and  foremost  student  of 
Amerindian  affairs,  John  Wesley  Powell.  His  own  works  and  the 
reports  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  of  which  he 
has  so  long  been  the  head,  and  where  he  has  gathered  together  so 
many  eminent  ethnologists  and  archaeologists,  have  furnished  me 
with  much  material.  These  reports  form  a  fine  library  on  Amer 
indian  matters,  and  reflect  great  honour  on  Professor  Powell  who 
conceived  the  idea,  and  on  Congress  which  has  ungrudgingly 
supported  it.  A  great  and  timely  work  has  become  established, 
which  to  private  enterprise  would  have  been  next  to  impossible. 
Add  to  these  the  invaluable  reports  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu 
tion  and  the  memoirs  and  reports  of  the  Peabody  Museum  and 
American  Museum,  and  the  student  has  before  him  a  large  fund 
of  material  without  seeking  farther.  Then  there  are  the  brilliant 
works  of  Parkman,  Brinton,  Winsor,  Bandelier,  Putnam,  ivforgan, 
Schoolcraft,  Prescott,  Maudsley,  Goodman,  Wilson,  Keane,  and 
many  others,  with  the  huge  production  of  H.  H.  Bancroft  filling 
an  important  place.  To  all  of  these  and  to  others  I  owe  much, 
and  I  have  intended  in  every  case  to  give  credit  and  references. 
Where  these,  in  some  cases,  may  not  have  been  properly  awarded, 
it  is  due  to  oversight  and  not  to  intention.  My  especial  thanks 
are  due  to  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  for  copies  of  all  the  reports, 
and  for  permission  to  utilise  the  illustrations  contained  in  them, 


vi  Preface 

and  to  the  American  Museum,  Archaeological  Institute,  Field  Col 
umbian  Museum,  Peabody  Museum,  and  Smithsonian  Institution 
for  similar  generosity.  I  take  pleasure  also  in  acknowledging 
favours  from  Professor  Putnam,  Professor  Powell,  Dr.  McGee, 
Mr.  Saville,  Professor  Seymour,  Professor  L,angley,  Mr.  Bancroft, 
Professor  Holmes,  Dr.  Baum,  and  others,  and  from  Mr.  E.  H. 
Harriman  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Alaska  under  the  most 
favourable  circumstances. 

The  title,  The  North  Americans  of  Yesterday,  seems  to  me  ap 
propriate,  because  while  there  are  still  some  Amerinds  extant,  and 
a  few  are  even  yet  apparently  leading  the  old-time  life,  neverthe 
less  they  are  merely  remnants  of  a  people  whose  sun  has  set,  and 
who  therefore  properly  belong  to  yesterday.  For  this  reason  I 
have  mainly  treated  them  as  a  bygone  race.  Between  the  so-called 
"  Red  Indian  "  of  the  United  States  and  northern  regions  and  the 
so-called  "  Civilised  Tribes"  of  Mexico  and  southern  regions  I 
have  made  no  race  differentiation,  because  the  differences,  what 
ever  they  may  be,  are  discovered  to  be  not  of  kind,  but  of  degree. 
Confusion  was  formerly  caused  by  misconceptions  and  by  romantic 
ideas  which  have  been  dispelled  by  the  more  scientific  methods  of 
later  days.  Some  confusion  has  been  caused  also  by  the  persistent 
efforts  to  classify  the  progress  of  mankind  as  a  whole  into  distinct 
world-epochs  or  time  periods.  It  seems  to  me  that  no  such  uni 
versal  epochs  of  even  progress  could  have  existed  in  past  time 
any  more  than  in  present  time.  Tribes  of  men  are  differentiated 
now,  always  will  be,  and,  I  believe,  always  have  been.  Common 
world-planes  of  culture  in  time  periods  are  an  impossibility.  Such 
schedules  as  Morgan's  may  apply  to  tribes  and  stocks  as  indicating 
their  special,  individual  advance,  but  not  to  the  whole  world, 
except  in  a  very  general  way.  That  is,  they  may  be  culture  but 
never  time  classifications.  The  closer  we  approach  the  beginnings 
of  man's  existence,  the  less  marked,  perhaps,  the  differences  in 
tribes,  but  differences  certainly  began  at  the  moment  when  one 
group  of  men  left  another  group  of  men  to  live  apart.  The  en 
vironment  and  necessities  of  each  group  would  cause  differences 
and  varying  rates  of  progress.  One  group  would  gain  the  bow  a 
thousand  years  before  another. 

Long  before  the  beginning  of  the  glacial  period,  therefore, 
some  groups  must  have  been  far  ahead  of  others,  and  in  the  manu 
facture  of  stone  implements  some  tribes  excelled  others  ;  some 


Preface  vii 

making  ruder  ones  than  others,  and  some  perhaps  making  well- 
finished,  polished  tools.  There  are  a  good  many  arrow-  and 
spear-head  shapes,  and  it  is  possible  that  each  form  originated  at 
a  different  time  or  in  a  different  locality.  And  in  our  present  state 
of  knowledge  of  these  matters,  no  time  position  can  be  assigned  to 
many  American  stone  tools,  polished  or  not.  They  may  have 
been  used  over  and  over  again  by  various  tribes  for  centuries,  or 
for  a  thousand  years,  or  they  may  have  been  made  by  tribes  of  our 
own  day.  Some  of  these  tribes  made  no  smoothed  or  polished 
implements,  though  otherwise  of  advanced  type,  and  polished  im 
plements  have  been  found  that  may  be  many  thousand  years  old. 
This  is  no  indication  that  tribes  do  not  change,  but  that  develop 
ment  began  and  continues  unevenly,  and  that  tribes  existed  ten 
thousand  or  more  years  ago  that  were  in  advance  of  some  that  are 
extant  to-day.  Nobody  can  say  whether  the  stone  implements, 
rough  or  smooth,  that  have  been  found  in  Chiriqui  belong  to  com 
paratively  modern  or  to  very  ancient  times.  The  whole  subject 
of  stone  implements  appears  to  be  in  a  chaotic  state,  mummified 
and  petrified  by  a  slavish  respect  and  devotion  to  European  pat 
terns.  It  is  a  case  of  cart  before  the  horse.  It  will  be  apparent 
that  I  do  not  consider  the  finish  of  stone  tools,  in  the  present  state 
of  our  understanding  of  them,  any  guide  for  a  world-classification 
of  peoples  in  a  time-scale,  especially  in  North  America.  This  has 
been  admitted  by  others  back  to  a  certain  point,  but  beyond  that 
point  they  have  continued  to  play  follow-the-leader  with  their 
world-classifications  of  "Paleolithic"  and  "  Neolithic,"  two  of 
the  most  confusing,  misleading,  and  useless  terms  ever  invented. 
Below  the  limit  of  the  ice  action  there  is  nothing  to  fix  the  age  of 
stone  tools  when  found  on  the  surface  or  near  it.  "  Paleoliths  " 
and  "  neoliths  "  might  therefore  be  picked  up  side  by  side,  and 
the  paleolith  might  not  be  as  old  as  the  neolith,  or  both  might  be 
of  the  same  age.  And  if  a  well-made  tool,  or  one  resembling 
some  of  to-day,  is  found  in  an  ancient  gravel,  it  does  not  neces 
sarily  mean  an  intrusion,  but  that  men  lived  in  that  far  past  who 
were  more  skilful  than  some  of  their  neighbours,  and  more  skilful 
than  we  have  heretofore  been  willing  to  admit.  That  very  ancient 
men  made  very  rude  tools  is  doubtless  true,  but  that  all  ancient 
men  made  rough  tools  of  the  same  style  down  to  a  certain  fixed 
time,  and  then  all  began  on  an  improved  or  a  smoothed  type,  is 
undoubtedly  wrong. 


via 


Preface 


How  the  Amerinds  came  here  I  explain  by  a  theory  that  there 
was  before,  or  perhaps  during  the  early  part  of  the  glacial  period, 
a  wider  distribution  of  land  surfaces  on  latitudinal  lines,  which 
invited  latitudinal  migrations.1  These  land  surfaces  may  have 
been  no  more  than  groups  of  larger  or  smaller  islands  which 
have  been  since  wholly  submerged  or  have  left  only  their  highest 
parts  above  the  sea.  Before  the  beginning  of  the  glacial  cold,  a 
mild  climate  extended  to  the  North  Pole,  facilitating  migrations 
also  in  that  region.  Changes  in  the  ocean's  bottom  were  prob 
ably  greater  in  pre-glacial  time  than  now,  but  they  have  not 
altogether  ceased.  It  is  little  more  than  fifteen  years  since  a 
new  island  appeared  off  the  Aleutian  chain,  and  I  think  it  is 
doubtful  if  any  of  that  group  existed  above  water  six  or  eight 
hundred  years  ago.  I  am  also  of  the  opinion  that  no  human 
life  was  in  Alaska  or  in  Northeast  Siberia  five  hundred  years 
back. 

Races  not  being  all  of  an  even  grade  of  culture  before  the 
beginning  of  the  cold  period  any  more  than  now,  the  tribes  that 
found  themselves  isolated  on  this  continent  by  changes  in  the 
land  levels  and  by  the  southward  extension  of  the  glaciation,  were 
unevenly  developed,  some  being  in  advance  of  others  in  various 
ways,  though  none,  of  course,  had  passed  beyond  the  use  of  stone 
tools,  a  condition  in  which  they  practically  continued  down  to  the 
Discovery.  In  this  respect  the  term,  "  Stone  Age,"  as  indicating 
a  condition,  is  applicable,  but  it  would  not  be  possible  to  differ 
entiate  it  into  "Paleolithic"  and  "Neolithic"  periods.  The 
cold  pushed  them  all  southward,  whether  they  came  by  north- 
lands  or  by  latitudinal  lands,  or  both,  towards  the  narrow 
funnel-like  part  of  the  continent,  and  also  to  the  lower  levels,  as 
there  was  no  chance  for  latitudinal  expansion  as  in  the  Eastern 
Hemisphere,  the  most  advanced  tribes  being  the  most  southerly,  if 
not  from  original  position,  because  they  were  able  to  choose. 
Eventually  communication  with  Asia  and  Europe  by  the  north 
was  by  the  glaciation  severed  completely,  as  it  had  previously 
been  latitudinally  by  the  disappearance  of  favourable  land  surfaces, 
and  communication  by  the  north  remained  closed  till  within  three 
or  four  hundred  years.  The  most  crowded  tribes  developed  most 
rapidly,  because  such  development  was  imperative  for  self-preser 
vation,  and  their  culture  filtered  through  in  diminishing  ratio, 
1  See  the  last  chapter. 


Preface  ix 

according  to  distance,  to  the  less  crowded  regions — that  is,  to  the 
climatically  less  favourable  regions  ;  but  all  who  were  closely 
crowded  into  the  "  funnel  "  progressed  along  similar  lines  and  in 
much  the  same  degree,  without  regard  to  relationships,  so  that  we 
find  in  the  narrow  part  of  the  continent,  where  the  largest  number 
found  refuge  from  the  cold,  many  different  stocks  in  almost 
parallel  stages  of  culture.  There  were  no  isolated  "  areas  of 
characterisation"  as  in  the  latitudinally  broader  lands  of  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere,  though  in  some  cases  there  were  slight  bar 
riers  tending  to  produce  or  maintain  slight  variations.  The  long 
longitudinal  chain  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  abounding  in  glaciers  to 
a  late  date,  and  to  a  less  extent  that  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
brought  about  a  partial  isolation  of  the  stocks  in  the  great  north- 
and-south  migrations,  maintaining  previous  differences  and  origi 
nating  others,  so  that  now  we  distinguish  differences  between  what 
is  called  the  Atlantic  and  what  is  called  the  Pacific  group,  while 
they  are  yet  practically  the  same.1  The  tribes  farthest  advanced 
at  the  beginning  of  the  isolation  on  this  continent  would  not  neces 
sarily  continue  at  the  front  of  progress,  for  a  change  of  conditions 
that  might  cripple  such  tribes  might  at  the  same  time  be  beneficial 
to  others  previously  inferior.  For  instance,  as  the  heat  gradually 
returned,  the  highly  developed  lowland  tribes  began  to  find  them 
selves  at  a  disadvantage,  which  grew  with  the  intensity  of  the 
heat,  while  others,  inured  to  harsher  conditions,  found  warmth 
stimulating,  and  they  began  to  develop  germs  received  from 
the  superior  but  now  declining  stocks.  "  The  American  In 
dians,"  says  Brinton,  "  cannot  bear  the  heat  of  the  tropics  even 
as  well  as  the  European."  The  heat,  which  at  first  seems 
to  have  been  intense  in  the  daytime,  then  caused  a  decline  of 
the  highest  stocks,  and  a  corresponding  progression  of  lower 
stocks  existing  on,  or  migrating  to,  higher  levels.  The  Yucatec 
tribes  declined,  while  the  Nahuatls,  at  higher  altitudes,  began  to 
develop.  The  finest  monuments  of  North  American  antiquity, 
for  these  reasons,  are  generally  found  on  comparatively  low  levels 
and  below  a  certain  latitude,  where  conditions  during  the  greatest 
cold  were  most  favourable  ;  conditions  that  may  have  continued 
fairly  favourable  down  to  within,  say,  a  thousand  years. 

Long  before  the  dawn  of  the  Columbian  era,  therefore,  the 
Amerind  peoples  had  become,  through  the  influences  indicated,  a 

1  See  linguistic  map  p.  33,  and  list  of  tribes  and  stocks  in  Appendix. 


x  Preface 

world-race  by  themselves,  existing  in  various  stages  of  the  same 
general  culture,  and  with  a  rising  and  a  declining  of  tribes  and 
stocks  directed  by  environment  and  circumstances.  The  great 
stocks  surviving  at  the  beginning  of  the  Columbian  era  may  be 
approximately  traced  by  their  languages,  in  layers,  from  Panama 
northward,  about  as  they  expanded  mainly  eastward  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  in  response  to  the  gradual  relief  from  the  pressure  of 
the  cold.  The  Yucatec  tribes  had  held  the  region  south  of  the 
Tehuantepec  isthmus,  and  owing  to  this  slight  barrier,  and  per- 
.haps  to  another  barrier  of  a  strait  through  the  land  about  on  the 
line  of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  canal,  had  developed  somewhat 
differently  from  tribes  to  the  north,  and  may  also  have  preserved 
more  of  their  original  character.  Thence  stretching  north  far  into 
the  United  States  was  the  great  composite  Shoshone,  or  Uto- 
Aztecan  family,  in  all  its  variations,  with  what  appears  to  be  an 
"  island  "  of  Athapascans  or  Boreal  men  preserved  in  its  midst  by 
glacial  conditions  lingering  in  the  high  regions  near  the  Mexico- 
United  States  line  ;  then  follows  the  Siouan  ;  then  the  widespread 
Algonquian  stock  ;  next  the  Athapascan  ;  and  finally  the  Kski- 
mauan,  which  had  always  been  held  against  the  edge  of  the 
glaciers  by  the  back  pressure  of  the  southern  stocks,  and  being 
most  remote  was  less  affected  by  filtration  from  the  development 
centre,  and  thus  remains  to-day  a  more  differentiated  stock  than 
any  other. '  The  western  arm  of  these  stocks  was  generally  farther 
north  than  the  eastern  because  the  climate  was  and  is  milder  in 
the  west,  the  trend  of  the  ice  front  being  now,  and  apparently 
always  having  been,  N.W.  to  S.E.  Distribution  of  skill  in  pot 
tery  follows  about  the  same  lines,  "petering"  out  with  stocks 
farthest  from  the  Yucatec  centre.  The  Algonquins  crowded  the 
Athapascans  off  to  the  N.W.,  and  together  they  crowded  the 
Eskimo  to  the  limits  of  human  subsistence.  In  California  many 
stocks  found  refuge  in  a  climate  kept  comparatively  mild  by  the 
ocean  currents,  where  they  secured  subsistence  on  fish,  and  went 
no  farther  south.  Along  the  Gulf  coast  were  other  tribes  resting 
somewhat  aside  from  the  great  continental  ebb  and  flow,  while  in 
Florida  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  region  there  was 
sufficient  separation  to  produce  a  slight  differentiation  from  the 
surging  continental  stocks.  Remnants  of  other  stocks  were 

1  When  the  ice  front  was  along  the  Ohio,  the  Eskimo  naturally  were 
distributed  along  the  southern  fringe. 


Preface  xi 

scattered  here  and  there  through  the  regions  below  the  glaciated 
area.  Mingled  with  all  these  developments  there  were  probably 
certain  traits  and  "tinges"  derived  from  earlier  ancestry,  and 
these,  with  the  similarity  of  development  of  all  races  under  like 
conditions  prevailing  wherever  human  beings  can  live,  fully  ac 
count  for  resemblances  to  other- world  tribes  and  peoples  that  have 
caused  so  much  speculation. 

There  has  been  an  error,  I  believe,  in  considering  the  glacial 
period  as  of  the  remote  past.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  yet  closed. 
It  influences  our  climate  now,  and  probably  a  thousand  years  ago 
its  meteorological  effects  were  marked  as  far  south  as  Yucatan. 
The  glaciers  of  the  Northern  Hemisphere  everywhere  appear  to 
be  slowly  disappearing,  and  not  so  slowly  either,  if  the  Muir  can 
be  taken  as  a  gauge,  for  it  has  been  for  twenty  years  receding  at 
the  rate  of  500  feet  per  annum,  and  probably  at  the  same  rate 
before  that.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  probably  less  than  5000 
years  since  the  ice  front  was  at  Lake  Erie.  Eminent  geologists 
have  estimated  it  at  less  than  7000,  based  on  the  erosion  at 
Niagara  ;  but  as  the  erosion  immediately  following  the  disappear 
ance  of  the  ice  is  extremely  rapid,  it  seems  safe  to  cut  down  the 
estimate.  The  subtleties  of  meteorology  are  far  from  being  under 
stood  also,  and  the  theories  as  to  the  causes  of  the  cold  seem  mere 
guesses.  Considerable  heat  there  must  have  been  during  the 
glacial  period,  or  there  would  have  been  no  glaciers. 

On  the  theory  of  the  ethnic  unity  of  the  Amerind  people,  I 
have  briefly  brought  together  in  chapters  notes  on  their  chief 
habits,  products,  languages,  etc.,  so  that  the  reader  may  be  able 
to  compare.  In  collecting  material  that  is  now  obtainable,  but 
which  will  shortly  be  gone  forever,  much  remains  to  be  done,  and 
to  be  done  quickly.  If  this  book  helps  to  arouse  a  deeper  public 
interest  in  the  gathering  of  this  material,  and  in  the  general  study 
of  the  subject,  I  shall  feel  it  needs  no  apology. 

F.    S. 
NEW  YORK,  January  31,  1900. 


MOKI    DRAWINGS    OF    THE    SUN 


MOKI    DRAWINGS  OF    SQUASH-BLOSSOMS 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE iii 

I — INTRODUCTORY I 

II — LANGUAGES    AND    DlALECTS 17 

III — PICTURE-WRITING,    SIGN  -  LANGUAGE,    WAMPUM, 

CUPPED-STONES 39 

IV — THE  MEXICAN  AND  CENTRAL-AMERICAN  WRITING, 

INSCRIPTIONS,  AND  BOOKS 68 

V — BASKETRY  AND  POTTERY 88 

VI — WEAVING  AND  COSTUME 123 

VII — CARVING,  MODELLING,  AND  SCULPTURE  .         .        .161 

VIII — SHELTERS,  DWELLINGS,  AND  ARCHITECTURE  .        .  194 

IX — WTEAPONS,  ARMOUR,  IMPLEMENTS,  AND  TRANSPORT 
ATION       248 

X — MINING,  METALLURGY,  AND  SCIENCE      .        .        .  285 

XI — MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS,  Music,  AMUSEMENTS,  AND 

GAMES 308 

XII — WORKS  AND  AGRICULTURE 332 

XIII— CUSTOMS  AND  CEREMONIES 352 


XIV 

CHAPTER 


Contents 


PAGE 
390 


XIV— MYTHS,  TRADITIONS,  AND  LEGENDS 
XV— ORGANISATION  AND  GOVERNMENT  .  .     410 

XVI— ORIGIN,  MIGRATIONS,  AND  HISTORY  .     428 

APPENDIX— CONTAINING  A  LIST  OF  NORTH-AMER 


ICAN  STOCKS,  SUB-STOCKS,  AND  TRIBES 


.     46i 


ntn 


MOKI   DRAWINGS   OF   RAIN    CLOUDS   AND   LIGHTNING 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


TEOCALLI  OF  THE  SUN,  PALENQUE,  YUCATAN     .         .      Frontispiece 

MOKI  DRAWINGS  OF  STARS iii 

MOKI  DRAWINGS  OF  THE  SUN ix 

f  GARGOYLE— SERPENT  HEAD i 

[From  debris  of  temple,  Copan] 

*  SOUTH  PORTION  OF  THE  TEWA  PUEBLO  OF  TAOS,  NEW  MEXICO. 

ADOBE;  CONSTRUCTION 3 

f  SEATED  FIGURE  CARVED  IN  TRACHYTE 5 

[From  debris  of  hieroglyphic  steps,  Copan.      Sli    htly   larger  than  life 
size] 

*  KICKING  BEAR,  Sioux          .........        7 

A  CORNER  OF  A  MITLA  RUIN,  MEXICO 9 

[From  Bandelier's   ArchcEological  Tour,  published  by  the  Archaeologi 
cal  Institute  of  America] 

t SCULPTURE  FROM  TERRACE  BAST  OF  THE  GREAT  PLAZA,  COPAN.  n 

*A  KIESKABI,  OR  COVERED  PASSAGE,  AT  WALPI,  ARIZONA      .        .  13 

*  MOKI  MASK  OF  PAWIKKATCINA 15 

t  SPECIMEN  OF  SCULPTURE  ON  HIEROGLYPHIC  STAIRWAY,  COPAN  .  16 

*  ESKIMO  JADE  ADZE *7 

t  "  SINGING- GIRL  "  SCULPTURED  IN  TRACHYTE 19 

[From  debris  of  Temple  22,  Copan.     Slightly  larger  than  life] 

*TERRA-COTTA  STOOL,  CHIRIQUI 20 

ALTAR  Q,   COPAN,   HONDURAS 2I 

[From  photograph  by  M.  H.  Saville.     American  Museum] 

SOUTH-WEST  CORNER  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  XOCHICALCO,  STATE  OF 

MOR'iLOS,    MEXICO ...         23 

[Bhotographed  by  M.  H.  Saville  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History] 

*  POLISHED  BLACK  WARE,  SANTA  CLARA,  NEW  MEXICO  .  .      27 
EASTERN   FACADE   OF  THE    TEMPLE    OF   XOCHICALCO,   STATE   OF 

MORELOS,  MEXICO 31 

[Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History] 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  t  Peabody  Museum. 


xvi  List  of  Illustrations 

PACK 

AMERIND  LINGUISTIC  MAP  OF  NORTH  AMERICA                               .  33 

[After  the  one  prepared  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology! 

*FAC-SIMILE  OF  A  CHEROKEE  MANUSCRIPT 35 

[Written  in  Sequoyah's  Syllabary] 

* PETROGLYPHS  NEAR  WRANGELL,  ALASKA,  PROBABLY  TLINKIT       .  37 

*  HUMAN  FORMS,  MOKI  .....•••••  38 

*  OMAHA  WAR  CLUB 39 

*  PAINTED  PETROGLYPHS,  SANTA  BARBARA  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA  .  40 
*PETROGLYPHS  IN  BROWN'S  CAVE,  WISCONSIN 41 

*  PAINTED  PETROGLYPHS,  SOUTHERN  UTAH 42 

*PETROGLYPH  AT  MILLSBORO,  PENNSYLVANIA 43 

*  PETROGLYPHS  IN  GEORGIA 44 

RUNIC  INSCRIPTION  ON  STONE  FOUND  AT  IGALIKKO,   GREENLAND.  45 

*DIGHTON  ROCK,  MASSACHUSETTS 45 

ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  "  WALAM  OLUM"  OF  THE  LENAPE        .        .  46 

[From  Brinton] 

KATCINAS  IN  THE  SOMAIKOLI  CEREMONY,    CICHUMOVI,   ARIZONA, 

NOVEMBER,  1884 47 

[Photograph  by  the  Author] 

*  KILLED  Two  ARIKAREES 48 

*  PETROGLYPHS  ON  PAINT  ROCK,  NORTH  CAROLINA  .        .  49 
LANDA'S  MAYA  ALPHABET,  AFTER  BRASSEUR 50 

[From  Bancroft's  Native  Races] 

*FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  MICMAC  HIEROGLYPHS   .  51 

[From  LeClercqJ 

*SEOJJOYAH'S  CHEROKEE  SYLLABARY 52 

*LEAN  WOLF'S  MAP,  HIDATSA 54 

*  THE  "  PENN  "  WAMPUM  BELT  ;    *  STRINGS  OF  WAMPUM        .        .  55 
*ORCA  OR  KILLER- WHALE  DECORATION,  HAIDA        ...  56 
*HAIDA  TATTOOING 57 

*  ESKIMO  DRAWING— "THE  MAN  IN  THE  MOON  COMES  DOWN"     .  58 

*  ESKIMO  PICTURE-WRITING 59 

*  SPECIMENS  OF  THE  DAKOTA  WINTER  COUNTS 60 

*  KILLING  A  BISON 6r 

*  SHELL  Disc,  TENNESSEE     .                                     ....  62 

*  SHELL  GORGET,  TENNESSEE 64 

[Actual  size] 

CUP  MARKINGS 65 

*Cup  FROM  CHIRIQUI 67 

*TERRA-COTTA  FROM  CHIRIQUI 68 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


List  of  Illustrations  xvii 

PAGE 

PAGE  FROM  AN  AZTEC  BOOK 

[From  a  copy  in  the  possession  of  M.  H.  Saville] 

MEXICAN  WRITING  OF  NAME  OF  MONTEZUMA    .        .  7I 

[From  Brinton] 

*PART  OF  PIRATE  65,  DRESDEN  CODEX  72 

[Maya] 

t  VASE  FROM  LABNA,  YUCATAN,  WITH  PECULIAR  MARKINGS    .        .      74 

*  CONVEX  DISCOIDAL  STONE,  NORTH  CAROLINA  ....  75 
f  FEMALE  HEAD  IN  TRACHYTE 

USUAL  TYPE  OF  SCULPTURED  "YOKES,"  CENTRAL  AMERICA   .  81 

[Field  Columbian  Museum] 

A   SUGGESTION  OF  THE   POSSIBLE   SCHEME  OF  MAYA  NUMERALS. 

WHOLLY  TENTATIVE  Q^ 

oo 
[From  drawing  by  the  Author] 

*  OMAHA  CALUMET §7 

*  OMAHA  WAR  CLUB        ....  38 

*  NORTH- WEST  COAST  FEATHER  ORNAMENTATION  ON  BASKETS       .  89 

*  ESKIMO  BAG-BASKET 89 

*MOKI  WICKER  WATER-JUG 8g 

*HAVASUPAI  CLAY- LINED  ROASTING  TRAY 9o 

*lROQUOIS   BlRCHBARK    VESSEL;    *  NORTH-WEST   COAST   BASKET          .         91 

*MCCLOUD  RIVER  BASKET,  CALIFORNIA 92 

*  MOKI  FOOD  BASKET;  *KLAMATH  BASKET 93 

*  MOKI  FOOD  TRAY  ;  *  MOKI  FLOOR  MAT 

yo 

*  ESKIMO  WHALEBONE  DISH;  *CLALLAM  BASKET,  WASHINGTON    .      96 

*  AMERIND  WICKER-WORK— APACHE  BASKET  ;  PAI  UTE  WATER-JUG  ; 

MOKI  FOOD  TRAY;  KLAMATH  BASKET -97 

*  MODELLING  AN  OLLA  AT  HANO I00 

[Photograph  by  the  Author] 

*CLAY  NUCLEUS I00 

*  METHOD  OF  BUILDING  UP  COIL  ....  100 

*WARE  FROM  MOKI  REGION,  ARIZONA I02 

*Cup  FROM  ARIZONA I03 

*VASE   FROM   ARKANSAS,  SHOWING  LINES  MADE  WITH  A   SHARP 

POINT  BEFORE  FIRING I03 

*  BOTTLE-SHAPED  VASE,  ARKANSAS 105 

*  EARTHENWARE  BURIAL  CASKET,  TENNESSEE I06 

*  DEATH-MASK  VASE,  TENNESSEE 107 

*  FLUTED  VASE,  ARKANSAS I09 

*  IMPRESSION  OF  PARTS  OF  BASKET  MOULD  ON  POTTERY         .        .  109 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  f  Peabody  Museum. 


xviii  List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

*  VASE  FROM  Cm RIQUI.    DECORATED  IN  BLACK,  RED,  AND  PURPLE,     in 
AN   ANCIENT  FIGURE   OF   TERRA   COTTA   FROM   THE   VALLEY   OF 

MEXICO 113 

[From  photograph  by  American  Museum  of  Natural  History] 

*COIL  INDENTED  FOR  DECORATION 114 

ZAPOTECAN    TERRA-COTTA    FUNERAL    URNS    FOUND    ox    CEMENT 

FLOOR  IN  FRONT  OF  TOMB  i,  MOUND  7,  Xoxo,  OAXACA,  MEXICO.     115 

[Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History] 

*POT  SHOWING  DIAGONAL  GROOVES  ACROSS  THE  LINES  OF  THE 
COIL  MADE  BY  THE  HAND  IN  SMOOTHING  UP.  MANCOS  CANYON, 
COLORADO 116 

ZAPOTECAN  TERRA-COTTA  TUBING  FOUND  LEADING  DOWN  INTO  A 

FIELD  FROM  THE  CENTRE  OF  MOUND  7,  Xoxo,  OAXACA,  MEXICO.  117 

[Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History] 

*  PUEBLO    POT.      PATTERN    PRODUCED    BY    OBLITERATING    PINCH 

MARKS        .        .        .        .        •        •        •        •        •        •        •        .118 

*  PINCH-MARKED  COIL 119 

*  ENGRAVED  WARE,  ARKANSAS 120 

*  ENGRAVED  WARE,  ARKANSAS 121 

BLACK  CUP,  CHIRIQUI 122 

*  WOVEN  MOCCASIN  FROM  KENTUCKY  CAVE 123 

*MENOMINEE  BEADED  GARTERS 125 

*NAVAJO  WOMAN  AT  THE  LOOM 127 

PART  OF  THE  SOMAIKOLI  CEREMONY  AT  CICHUMOVI,  NOVEMBER, 

1884,  SHOWING  A  SACRED  BLANKET  ON  FIGURE  IN  FOREGROUND.     129 

[From  photograph  by  the  Author] 

*  DETAILS  OF  NAVAJO  LOOM  CONSTRUCTION 131 

*A  PUEBLOAN  OF  SAN  JUAN,  NEW  MEXICO 135 

*  METHOD  OF  MAKING  FEATHER-WORK 137 

*CHILKAT  CEREMONIAL  SHIRT 139 

*CHILKAT  CEREMONIAL  BLANKET 142 

*MOKI  WALL  DECORATION.      PINK  ON  A  WHITE  GROUND.     MISH- 

ONGNUVI,  ARIZONA 144 

*BELLACOOLAS        J45 

*Top  VIEW  OF  CONICAL  NORTH-WEST  COAST  HAT    .        .  .  146 

WONSIVU,  A  PAI  UTE  GIRL J47 

[Posed  by  Thomas  Moran] 

A  NAVAJO  LEADER  IN  NATIVE  COSTUME     .        .  i4-s 

[Figure  from  photograph  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology] 
*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


List  of  Illustrations  xix 

PAGE 

*  INTERIOR  OF  A  MOKI  HOUSE,  ARIZONA 149 

*  PUEBLO  HEAD  MAT       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        -151 

*NAVAJOS 152 

*SEMINOLE  MAN'S  AND  WOMAN'S  COSTUME        .....  154 

*  EAR-PERFORATING  AND  HAIR-DRESSING  OF  SEMINOLES         .        .  155 
*THE  GHOST-SHIRT,  SIMPLE  FORM 157 

*  ESKIMO  BOOTS 158 

*RAIN  HAT,  HAIDA 160 

*  TOUCAN  OF  SQUIER  AND  DAVIS,  REALLY  A  CROW   .        .        .        .161 
DESERTED  VILLAGE  NEAR  CAPE  Fox,  ALASKA 162 

[Photographed  by  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899] 

INTERIOR  HOUSE-COLUMN 162 

[Sketch  by  Author  from  post  at  Cape  Fox  Village,  Alaska] 

MAJOR  PART  OF  INTERIOR  HOUSE-POST  FROM  CAPE  Fox  VILLAGE, 

S.  E.  ALASKA 163 

TOTEM  POLE  WITH  BEAR  ON  THE  TOP,  WRANGELL   ....  164 

[Sketch  by  the  Author] 

*TERRA-COTTA  STATUETTE,  CHIRIQUI 165 

*THE  BEAR-MOTHER,  HAIDA,  N.  W.  COAST 165 

*  WOODEN  MASKS,  N.  W.  COAST 166 

*KWAKIUTL  CARVING,  N.  W.  COAST 167 

~:<~  ESKIMO  CARVED  IVORY  DRUM-HANDLES  .        .        .        .        .        .168 

*  SPECIMEN  OF  MOUNDBUILDER  SCULPTURAL  SKILL  WITH  HUMAN 

FIGURE 170 

*  STONE  PIPE  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  MOUND 171 

*  SO-CALLED  ELEPHANT  PIPE,  IOWA 172 

*  TOUCAN  OF  SQUIER  AND  DAVIS,  POSSIBLY  MEANT  FOR  A  YOUNG 

EAGLE 172 

*  TRIPOD  VASE,  CHIRIQUI.     LEGS  MODELLED  TO  IMITATE  FISH       .  173 

*  SHELL  GORGET,  MISSOURI 175 

*  BIRD-SHAPED  EARTHEN  BOWL,  ARKANSAS 176 

*  SHELL  MASK,  VIRGINIA 177 

MOKI  SCULPTURAL  SKILL  WITH  THE  HUMAN  FIGURE        .        .        .178 

THE  ALOSAKA  (MOKI) 179 

[After  drawing  by  A.  M.  Stephen] 

*  SCULPTURAL  ART  OF  CHIRIQUI    ...                ...  179 

*  SHELL  GORGET,  TENNESSEE l8° 

THE  AZTEC  "CALENDAR"  STONE 182 

I  From  Bandelier's  Archaeological  Tour] 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


xx  List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

AZTEC  SCULPTURE,  THE  INDIO  TRISTE 183 

[From  Bandelier's  Arch&ological  Tour] 

SANCTUARY  TABLET  TEMPLE  (TEOCALLIJ  OF  THE  SUN,  PALENQUE.  185 

[Field  Columbian  Museum] 

t  "ALTAR"  IN  FRONT  OF  STELA  D,  COPAN 186 

t  STELA  No.  6,  COPAN  ;  BACK  OF  STELA  No.  6          ....  187 

*  PUMA-SHAPED  STOOL  OF  GREY  ANDESITE,  CHTRIQUI       .        .        .  188 
t  HEAD  SCULPTURED  IN  STONE.    CHULTUNES  OF  LABNA,-  YUCATAN  189 
LARGE  BUILT-UP  HEAD  AT  IZAMAL 191 

[From  Stephens] 

*  STOOL  OF  GREY  BASALT,  CHIRIQUI 192 

*  COPPER  BELL  FROM  TENNESSEE 193 

*  PUEBLO  MEALING  STONES 194 

PAI  UTE  WIKIUPS,  NORTHERN  ARIZONA 195 

[From  photograph  by  Colorado  River  Expedition,  1872] 

*MOKI  KISI  CONSTRUCTION 196 

*  PRIMITIVE  AMERIND  LADDERS 197 

*  A  NAVAJO  HOUSE 198 

*A  SWEAT  HOUSE 199 

*AN  OMAHA  TIPI 201 

*A  SEMINOLE  DWELLING 203 

*  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY   METHOD   OF   USING  JACAL    CONSTRUCTION, 

ACCORDING  TO  THOMAS 2O6 

*  CLIFF  OUTLOOK,  CANYON  DEL  MUERTO,  ARIZONA   ....  207 
HALL  OF  COLUMNS,  MITLA 209 

[Field  Columbian  Museum] 

TRANSVERSE  SECTION  (SOMEWHAT  GENERALISED)  SHOWING  CON 
STRUCTION  OF  PALENQUE  BUILDINGS,  YUCATAN  .        .        .        .210 

[Field  Columbian  Museum] 

*  SOME  DETAILS  OF  PUEBLO  HOUSE  ARCHITECTURE— A  TRIANGULAR 

SIPAPU    OR    SACRED    KIVA    ORIFICE  ;    MOKI    DOORWAY    WITH 
TRANSOM  ;   PUEBLO   ROOF  CONSTRUCTION  ;   SOME  MOKI  ROOF 

DRAINS 2I1 

*MOKI    NOTCHED    DOORWAY,    so    MADE    THAT    LARGE    BUNDLES 

COULD  BE  TAKEN  IN 213 

A  ZUNI  CHIMNEY,  MOKI  THE  SAME 215 

ONE  FORM  OF  MOKI  CHIMNEY  HOOD 215 

*  GROUND  PLAN  OF  ESKIMO  SNOW  IGLU      .  .        .        .        .217 

*  SECTION  OF  SNOW  IGLU 2lS 

*AN  ALASKA  ESKIMO  WINTER  HOUSE,  POINT  BARROW    .        .        .219 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  t  Peabody  Museum. 


List  of  Illustrations  xxi 

PAGE 

*  INTERIOR  GROUND  PLAN  OF  A  MOKI  HOUSE    .....  220 
*AN    ALASKA    ESKIMO    WINTER    HOUSE   OF    WOOD   AND   EARTH, 

POINT  BARROW 221 

*  INTERIOR  OF  WOOD  AND  EARTH  IGLU 221 

*  STONE  STEPS  AT  ORAIBI 222 

*  CLIFF-DWELLING,    EASTERN    COVE    OF    MUMMY    CAVE,    CANYON 

DE  CHELLY,  ARIZONA       .........  223 

HOUSES  IN  WALPI,  ONE  OF  THE  MOKI  TOWNS,  ARIZONA          .        .  224 

[Photograph  by  U.  S.  Geological  Survey] 

*  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  A  GROUP  OF  CAVATE  LODGES,  ARIZONA          .  225 
*PLAN  AND  SECTIONS  OF  A  CAVATE  LODGE 227 

*  DIAGRAM  SHOWING  POCKET  AT  BACK  OF  SOME  CAVATE  LODGES  .  228 
f  THEORETIC  ROOF  CONSTRUCTION  OF  MITLA 230 

*  GROUND  PLAN  OF  A  KIVA  AND  CEILING  PLAN  OF  ANOTHER        .  231 
CHACO  RUINS  MASONRY  ;    CHACO  RUINS,  GROUND  PLANS         .         .  232 

[From  Report  of  Hayden  Expedition] 

*RUIN  CALLED  CASA  GRANDE,  ARIZONA 233 

f  TRANSVERSE  SECTION  OF  AN  ORDINARY  YUCATEC  BUILDING         .  235 

t  FORMS  OF  THE  MAYA  CORBEL  VAULT 237 

f  GROUND  PLANS  OF  YUCATEC  BUILDINGS 238 

t  KWAKIUTL  HOUSE  FRONT 239 

\  NORTH- WEST  COAST  HOUSES  AND  TOTEM  POLES      ....  241 
fRuiN  OF  EAST  FACADE  AND  IGLESIA,   "PALACE,"  CHICKEN- ITZA, 

YUCATAN 243 

\  ELEVATION  OF  KWAKIUTL  HOUSE 244 

*  VIEW  IN  THE  MOKI  TOWN  OF  MISHONGNAVI,  ARIZONA          .        .  245 

*  ESKIMO  HORN  DIPPER 247 

*HORN  ARROW  STRAIGHTENER 248 

*  MODERN  IRON  ARROW-HEADS  OF  THE  OMAHAS       ....  248 

*  FORMS  OF  THE  Bow 249 

PAI  UTE  PALM-DRILL 250 

[Drawn  by  the  Author] 

JTHE  PALM-DRILL  (  FIRE-MA  KING)  ;  THE  PUMP-DRILL  (FIRE-MAKING)  251 

*  ESKIMO  STRING-DRILL  (FOR  FIRE-MAKING  WITH  MOUTHPIECE)    .  251 

*  PUEBLO  PUMP-DRILL  (FOR  BORING) 251 

*  DRILL-POINT  OF  CHIPPED  FLINT 251 

\  SET  OF  FIRE-MAKING  TOOLS,  BRISTOL  BAY  ESKIMO,  ALASKA       .  253 

*  ESKIMO  BOW-DRILL 254 

\  MODERN  ROD  ARMOUR  OF  THE  KLAMATHS,  OREGON      .        .        .255 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,    f  Field  Columbian  Museum.     %  U.  S.  National  Museum. 


xxii  List  of  Illustrations 


PAGE 


tHupA  ROD  ARMOUR,  CALIFORNIA 255 

t  ESKIMO  PLATE  ARMOUR,  DIOMEDE  ISLAND,  BERING  STRAIT         .  257 

f  TLINKIT  SKIN  ARMOUR,  ALASKA 258 

t  PREHISTORIC  ALEUTIAN  ROD  ARMOUR 259 

*  CHIPPED  FLINT  ;    CHIPPED  FLINT  BLUNT  ARROW-HEAD,  GEORGIA  ; 

CHIPPED  FLINT  IMPLEMENT,  TENNESSEE;  SPECIMEN  "CORES," 
OR  BLOCKS  OF  FLINT  ;  SPECIMEN  OF  CHIPPED  FLINT  Discs, 
CALLED  ' '  TURTLEBACK, "  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  ;  GROOVED  STONE 

AXE,  TENNESSEE  (GROUND) 26 1 

*  DIAGRAM  EXPLAINING  TERMS  TO  BE  USED  IN  DESCRIBING  STONE 

WEAPONS 263 

f  TLINKIT  SLAT-AND-ROD  ARMOUR,  ALASKA,  FRONT  VIEW       .        .  265 

*  APACHE  WAR-BONNET 266 

*  ESKIMO  THROWING-BOARDS  FOR  DARTS 268 

*  ESKIMO  BIRD  BOLAS 268 

*  AMERINDIAN  KNIVES 269 

*MOKI    THROWING-STICK,    OR    PUTCHKOHU  ;      PUEBLO    PLANTING 

STICK  ;   ZUNI  WOODEN  SPADE 270 

A  MOKI  THROWING  THE  PUTCHKOHU 271 

[From  a  drawing  by  the  Author] 

*  SHELL  SPOON,  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 273 

*  PUEBLO  MOUNTAIN  SHEEP-HORN  SPOON 274 

*MENOMINEE  WOODEN  MORTAR  AND  PESTLE 274 

*  STONE  HOUSE-LAMP,  POINT  BARROW,  ALASKA         ....  275 

*  ESKIMO  SLEDGES 277 

*  CENTRAL  ESKIMO  DOG  HARNESS 278 

t  ENCLOSED  CANADIAN  TOBOGGAN  OR  TRAVELLING  SLED         .        .  279 

*  ESKIMO  SNOW-SHOE,  POINT  BARROW,  ALASKA         ....  280 
t  CANOES  OF  THE  NORTH-WEST  COAST         .        .        .        .        .        .281 

*  UMIAK  OF  THE  CENTRAL  ESKIMO 282 

*  ESKIMO  KAYAKS    ...........  283 

*  METHOD  OF  ATTACHING  OARS  TO  UMIAK 284 

*  METHOD  OF  TYING  FRAME  OF  KAYAK 284 

*THIN  PLATE  OF  COPPER  WROUGHT  BY  REPOUSSE,  METHOD,  ILLI 
NOIS  MOUND 285 

*  AMERINDIAN  METHOD  OF  MINING  STEATITE  FOR  UTENSILS  .        .  287 

*  CHIPPED  SPADE 289 

*  ESKIMO  STONE  MAUL 290 

*  SMALL  FIGURE  OF  FROG  IN  BASE  METAL,   PLATED  WITH  GOLD, 

CHIRIQUI     ............  292 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  f  U.  S.  National  Museum. 


List  of  Illustrations  xxiii 

PAGE 

COPPERS  FROM  THE  NORTH- WEST   COAST  ;    PAINTED    DESIGN    IN 
BLACK  REPRESENTING  A  SEA  MONSTER  WITH  BEAR'S  HEAD  ; 

PAINTED  DESIGN  REPRESENTING  A  HAWK 293 

[U.  S.  National  Museum] 

*  HOLLOW  SILVER  BEADS  OF  NAVAJO  MAKE,  ARIZONA      .        .        .  294 
*NAVAJO  SILVER  WORK,  ARIZONA  ;  ENGRAVED  BUTTON  ;  BRACELET,  295 
•fKwAKiuTL  CHIEF  HOLDING  HIS  COPPER,  NORTH-WEST  COAST      .  297 

*  TRIPLE  BELL  OR  RATTLE  OF  GOLD  FROM  NEAR  PANAMA      .        .  302 

*  BRONZE  MEXICAN  BELL 302 

*  BRONZE  BELLS,  PLATED  OR  WASHED  WITH  GOLD,  CHIRIQUI          .  304 

*  SMALL  METAL  FIGURE,  CHIRIQUI 306 

*  SILVER  PLATE  WITH  SPANISH  COAT  OF  ARMS 307 

*  MOKI  RATTLE  OF  ANIMAL  HOOFS 308 

*  AMERINDIAN  RATTLES;  GOURD,  OJIRWA  ;  EARTHENWARE  RATTLE 

FROM  CHIRIQUI  ;  TIN,  OJIBWA 309 

*  OMAHA  LARGE  FLUTE 310 

*DRUM  OF  T^RRA-COTTA,  CHIRIOUI     .......  312 

*MENOMINEE  TAMBOURINE  DRUM 313 

*  OMAHA  Box  DRUM 314 

+  SET  OF  PLAYING  STICKS 315 

*  PUEBLO    RATTLES— TURTLE   SHELL   WITH   HOOFS  OF  GOATS  OR 

SHEEP,   FASTENED  TO  THE  REAR  OF  THE  RIGHT  LEG  NEAR 

THE  KNEE  IN  DANCING  ;   PAINTED  GOURD  WITH  WOOD  HANDLE,  317 

*  ZUNI  DANCE  ORNAMENT  ;    *  MOKI  NOTCHED  STICK  ;    f  KWAKIUTL 

DOUBLE  WHISTLE,  WITH  FOUR  VOICES 319 

fTHE  AWL  GAME 320 

f  AMERIND  GAMBLING  TOOLS— SET  OF  BONE  DICE,  ARAPAHO  ;   SET 
OF    COUNTING   STICKS,    BLACKFEET  ;    SET   OF    PLUM   STONES, 

ARIKAREE 322 

*  TERRA-COTTA  RATTLE  FROM  CHIRIQUI 325 

*  CAT-SHAPED  WHISTLE  OF  TERRA-COTTA,  CHIRIQUI         .        .        .  327 
fMANDAN  GAME  OF  TCHUNGKEE 328 

*  DOUBLE  WHISTLE  IN  TERRA-COTTA  FROM  CHIRIQUI        .         .        .  330 

fSET  OF  STAVES  FOR  GAME 331 

*"  BANNER-STONE,"  TENNESSEE  ........  332 

*  SO-CALLED  ELEPHANT  MOUND,  WISCONSIN 334 

*  ANCIENT  FABRIC  DESIGN,  FROM  IMPRESSION  ON  POTTERY,  UTAH,  335 

*  ANCIENT  FABRIC,  PRESERVED  BY  COPPER  CELT,  IOWA  .        .        .  336 

*  LARGE  MOUND  OF  THE  ETOWAH  GROUP,  GEORGIA          .        .        .  337 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  tU.  S.  National  Museum. 


xxiv  List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

A  VOTIVE  ADZ  OF  JADITE  FROM   MEXICO,  SHOWING   FRONT   AND 

SIDE 339 

[American  Museum,  Kunz  Collection] 

BACK  OF  VOTIVK  ADZ      .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .         .        .     341 

[American  Museum] 

*  PATTERNS   OF    ANCIENT   FABRICS   FROM   POTTERY  ;    FROM    NEW 

YORK  ;  FROM  ILLINOIS  ;  FROM  TENNESSEE 344 

*  ESKIMO  MECAHNICAL  TOY 345 

fMAHTOT6HPA  (THE  FOUR  BEARS),  A  MANDAN  CHIEF      .        .        .  347 

AN  ONYX  JAR  FROM  MEXICO  IN  PROCESS  OF  MANUFACTURE  .         .  349 

[American  Museum] 

f  WOODEN  FOOD  BOWL,  HAIDA 351 

*  DANCING  MASK  OF  THE  MAKAHS,  WASHINGTON      ....     352 
f  MOKI   WICKER   CRADLE  WITH   AWNING  ;    CARRYING   BASKET   OF 

THE  ARIKAREES 353 

f  TLINKIT  MAN  AND  WOMAN  THIRTY  YEARS  AGO,   OR  ABOUT  1870,     355 
A  PAWNEE  IN  BATTLE  ARRAY 357 

[Photographed  by  J.  K.  Killers,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey] 

fTnE  KWAKIUTL  WOLF  DANCE,  CALLED  WALASAXA,  NORTH-WEST 

COAST 359 

fUTE  WOMAN  CARRYING  CHILD 361 

•f-KEOKUK,  A  SAUK  CHIEF 362 

f  SHRINE  OF  THE  WAR-GODS,  TWIN  MOUNTAIN,   PUEBLO  OF  ZUNI, 

NEW  MEXICO 365 

fA   COSTUME  OF  A   HAMATSA  IN  THE  KWAKIUTL  CANNIBALISTIC 
CEREMONY,    WHERE   SLAVES  AND   CORPSES   WERE  FORMERLY 

DEVOURED         ...........  367 

f  MEXICAN  OPERATING  THE  PALM  DRILL  FOR  FIRE.        .        .        .  368 

fZuNi  WOMAN  CARRYING  WATER        .......  369 

fUTE  CRADLE,  FRAME  OF  RODS  COVERED  WITH  BUCKSKIN     .        .  372 
f  ESKIMO  WOMAN  OF  POINT  BARROW  CARRYING  CHILD  ;   f  APACHE 

WOMAN  CARRYING  CHILD 374 

*MOKI  "SNAKE  DANCE"  AT  WALPI 376 

*  AMERINDIAN  PICTURE-WRITING 377 

*  BEGINNING  OF  THE  MOKI  "SNAKE  DANCE"  AT  WALPI.         .         .  378 

f  HORNED  RATTLESNAKE,  CROTALUS  CERASTES 380 

•f-THE  OKEEPA  CEREMONY  OF  THE  MANDANS,  LASTING  FOUR  DAYS,  382 

*THE  SACRED  POLE  OF  THE  OMAHA 383 

CRUCIFORM  STONE  TOMB,  OAXACA 384 

[American  Museum  '. 

GROUND  PLAN  OF  CRUCIFORM  TOMB,  OAXACA 385 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  t  U.  S.  National  Museum. 


List  of  Illustrations 


xxv 


*  AMERINDIAN  ART 

MOKI  EARTHERN  CANTEEN,  ARIZONA 

f  MODERN  LACED  SANDAL  OF  LEATHER  FROM  COLIMA,  MEXICO     . 

*  ESKIMO  PIPE  WITH  STONE  BOWL 

TEOCALLI  (TEMPLE)  OF  TEPOZTLAN,  STATE  OF  MORELOS,   MEXICO, 

[Monumental  Records] 

fKwAKiuTL  WOOD-CARVING  OF  THE  SISUL  NORTH-WEST  COAST 

f  RUSHING  EAGLE,  1872 

•-FINE  CLOTH  PRESERVED  BY  COPPER  BEADS 

*  ANCIENT   FABRIC-MARKED   POTSHERDS,    WITH    CLAY    CASTS    BY 

HOLMES 

f  EHTOHKPAHSHEPEESHAH,  THE  BLACK  MOCCASIN,  CHIEF  OF  THE 

OF  THE  MlNATAREES,  OVER  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OLD 
LACANDON  (MAYAN)  AMERIND  FROM  CHOCOLHAO,  YUCATAN    . 

[Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville] 

ONE  OF  THE  BUILDINGS  OF  THE  PALENQUE  GROUP   .... 

[Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville  j 

f  COSTUME  WORN  IN  THE  KWAKIUTL  FESTIVALS,  CALLED  LAO- 
LAXA,  NORTH-WEST  COAST 

GOD-HOUSES  OF  THE  HUICHOLS  AT  TEAKATA,  NEAR  SANTA  CATA- 
RINA,  STATE  OF  JALISCO,  MEXICO 

[American  Museum] 

*  ESKIMO  MASK  OF  WOOD,  PRINCE  WILLIAM  SOUND,  ALASKA. 
PLENTY-HORSES,  A  CHEYENNE 

[U.S.  Geological  Survey] 

f  NORTH- WEST  COAST  BASKETRY  HATS 

f  NORTH-WEST  COAST  MORTUARY  AND  COMMEMORATIVE  COLUMNS, 

f  ANCIENT  PUEBLOAN  MOCCASINS  OF  FIBRE,  ARIZONA 

f  CHIMMESYAN  HEAD-DRESS  REPRESENTING  THE  WHITE  OWL 

f  WOODEN  "SEAL"  DISH,  HA  IDA 

TLINKIT  SUMMER  CAMP          ......... 

[Photographed  by  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899] 

ESKIMO  SUMMER  CAMP,   PORT  CLARENCE 

[Photographed  by  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899] 

*  WOODEN  SNOW  GOGGLES  OF  THE  CENTRAL  ESKIMO 
PRINCIPAL  KNOWN  RUINS  OF  CENTRAL  AMERICA      .... 

[American  Museum] 

*  NECKLACE  OF  DRIED  HUMAN   FINGERS  OBTAINED   ON   BATTLE 

FIELD  OF  WOUNDED  KNEE  BY  CAPTAIN  BOURKE 
PRINCIPAL  KNOWN  RUINS  OF  MEXICO 

'American  Museum] 


387 
388 

389 
390 
39* 

392 
394 
395 

398 

400 
402 

404 

406 

409 

410 
413 

415 
417 
422 
426 
428 
429 


433 
436 


437 
438 


*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


t  U.  S.  National  Museum. 


xxvi  List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

PROBABLE    ASPECT    OF    ALASKA    SUMMER    LANDSCAPE    SOMK    vSix 

HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 440 

[Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899] 

*A   PUEBLOAN  WARRIOR  OF  NAMBE,  NEW    MEXICO,    IN    BATTLE 

ARRAY 442 

f  APACHE  WOMAN  CARRYING  WATER  IN  A  WICKKR  BOTTLE   .        .  444 

GROUP  OF  ESKIMO,  PORT  CLARENCE,  ALASKA 446 

[Photographed  by  the  Harriman  Expedition,  1899) 

*  SHELL  SPIDER  GORGETS 447 

f BLACK  HAWK 448 

PORTION  OF  THE  SO-CALLED  "PALACE"  OF  LABNA,  YUCATAN        .     450 

[American  Museum] 

MUSICAL  Bow  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  TEPEHUANES  AND  THE  AZTECS, 

MEXICO 45  r 

[American  Museum  ] 

f  GENERAL  TYPE  OF  CHIMMESYAN,  HAIDA,   AND  TLINKIT  CHIEF'S 

COSTUME,  NORTH-WEST  COAST 452 

*  PERFORATED  DISCOIDAL  STONE,  ILLINOIS         .....    4^3 
HOBOBO,    THE    FIRE    KATCINA,    IN   THE    SOMAIKOLI    CEREMONY, 

CICHUMOVI,  1884        ..........     454 

[From  a  drawing  by  the  author] 

CIRCLE  OF  DANCERS  IN  THE  INTERVALS  BETWEEN  THE  APPEAR 
ANCES  OF  THE  VARIOUS  KATCINAS  IN  THE  MOKI  SOMAIKOLI 
CEREMONY,  CICHUMOVI,  ARIZONA,  1884 455 

[Photographed  by  the  author] 

FRONT  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COLUMNS,  MITLA,  OAXACA       .        .        .     457 

[American  Museum] 

f  THE  SWASTIKA 459 

*  STICK  USED  IN  THE  AWL  GAME 461 

f  WOODEN  SEAL-DISH,  HAIDA,  NORTH-WEST  COAST  ....    478 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  t  U.  S.  National  Museum. 


NOTE 

The  cover,  designed  and  drawn  by  the  author,  has  for  its  central  feat 
ure  a  sketch  of  a  stone  animal  head  removed  from  one  of  the  buildings 
at  Copan  and  brought  to  the  Peabody  Museum  by  Saville.  The  sacred 
butterfly  of  the  Mokis  fills  the  four  corners  of  the  space  around  this,  and 
above  and  below  an  arrangement  of  Puebloan  scrollwork  completes  the 
composition.  On  the  back  is  a  figure  representing  the  terra-cotta  statue 
shown  more  exactly  on  page  113,  with  a  further  arrangement  of  scrollwork 
and  some  minor  Moki  svmbols. 


THE  NORTH-AMERICANS  OF 
YESTERDAY 


THE 
NORTH-AMERICANS  OF  YESTERDAY 


CHAPTER  I 


INTRODUCTORY 

WHEN  those  rapacious  enthusiasts,  the  Spaniards  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  had  unfolded  some  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  great  half-world  that  the  resolution  and  daring 
of  Columbus  had  opened  to  them,  they  found  it  everywhere  already 
peopled,  though  often  sparsely,  by  a  race  strange  to  the  other  half, 
with  totally  different  ideas  and  customs,  existing  in  various  de 
grees  of  sylvan  felicity,  or  in  the  budding  promise  of  a  civilisation. 
They  also  found  imposing  ruins  that  told  of  the  long  previous 
departure  of  some  of  the  occupants  of  this  land  into  the  vaster 
unknown,  and  indeed  evidences  of  still  earlier  hosts  that  had 
travelled  the  dim  pathway  through  the  outer  darkness.  These 
new  lands  were  believed  to  be  some  part  of  India,  and  because  of 
this  first  error  the  inappropriate  title  of  "  Indians  "  was  bestowed 
on  the  natives,  and  this  name  continued  to  cling  after  the  mistake 
was  discovered,  growing  more  and  more  confusing  as  intercourse 
increased  with  the  real  Indians,  till  now  in  our  day  it  is  exceed 
ingly  troublesome,  and  we  are  compelled  to  differentiate,  when 
accuracy  is  desirable,  by  saying  <(  East  Indian,"  "  Red  Indian," 
or  "  American  Indian,"  etc.  To  add  further  to  this  confusion, 
many  persons  persist  in  considering  the  Algonquin  and  Iroquois 


UNIVERSITY 


2  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

as  the  type  specimens  of  "  Indians,"  and  exclude  all  who  do  not 
accord  with  this  limited  and  erroneous  standard.  The  natives  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere  appear  all  to  have  been  of  one  race,  for 
there  are  only  minor  differences,  which  will  be  shown  in  following 
pages,  and  there  is  therefore  a  necessity  for  a  broad  designation 
for  all  these  people.  When  these  words  were  first  written  I  had 
determined  to  adopt  the  term  "  Redskin  "  for  use  in  this  book,  but 
learning  that  Amerind,  compounded  of  the  first  syllables  of  Amer 
ican  and  Indian,  had  been  suggested  by  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  Washington,  I  gave  it  the  preference  over  Redskin, 
and  on  full  examination  was  convinced  that  it  is  a  satisfactory 
and  useful  substitute  for  "  Indian,"  and,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
latter,  have  used  it  exclusively  in  these  pages,  except  where 
another  writer  is  quoted. 

This  Amerind  people  were  indeed  more  remarkable  than  has 
been  popularly  appreciated.1  They  possessed,  as  a  rule,  strong 
personality,  great  physical  vigour,  quick  intelligence,  and  daunt 
less  courage.  Their  brain  power  was  of  a  high  order  and  the 
cerebral  quality  extremely  fine  ;  capable  through  the  processes  of 
time  of  a  development  second  to  none.  They  had  their  trials, 
their  wars,  their  sicknesses,  and  their  various  tribulations  before 
the  Europeans  fell  down  upon  them  ;  but  had  the  cargo  of  misery, 
disease,  and  deat4i-for-ihem  which  freighted  the  bold  caravels  of 
Columbus  possessed  tangible  weight  in  proportion  to  its  magni 
tude,  those  vessels  would  have  plunged  to  the  depths  of  the  un 
known  sea.  But  Destiny  had  traced  another  course  for  events, 
and  thus  the  gay  banners,  glowing  on  one  side  with  Hope  for  one 
race  and  black  on  the  reverse  with  Despair  for  another,  flaunted 
at  length  their  ominous  folds  in  the  sunshine  of  the  Amerind  con 
tinent.  Great  good  fortune  it  was  for  the  Europeans,  especially 
for  the  Spaniards,  but  the  latter  failed  to  read  their  star  aright. 
Upon  the  conquered  tribes,  an  easy  prey  before  the  superior 
weapons  of  the  invaders,  they  lavished  a  cruelty  which  eclipsed 
that  of  savages,  and  settled  like  a  blight  over  the  country,  to 
finally  stifle  by  just  retribution  the  haughty  power  of  Spain  her 
self,  and  wrench  forever  from  her  the  last  foot  of  the  domain 
which  the  unfaltering  courage  of  the  Adelantados  had  bequeathed 
to  her.  To  attempt  to  gloss  over  the  oppression  of  the  Spanish 

1  For  many  details  of  the  life  of  the  American  Indians,  or  Amerinds,  see 
The  Indians  of  To- Day,  by  George  Bird  Grinnell. 


4  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

rule  of  the  Amerind  people  would  be  fruitless.  There  is  no  excuse 
for  it.  Fresh  from  the  methods  of  the  Inquisition,  the  Spaniards 
themselves  perhaps  were  not  wholly  aware  of  the  horror  of  their 
acts.  Unfortunately,  they  do  not  stand  alone  as  sinners  in  this 
respect,  and  the  contemplation  of  the  early  intercourse  of  Euro 
peans  and  Amerinds  is  not  likely  to  give  a  candid  person  an 
agreeable  sensation,  as  it  is  frequently  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  decide  which  race  is  the  one  to  whom  rightfully  belongs  the 
description,  "  treacherous,  bloodthirsty,  and  savage."  Certain 
it  is  that  the  Amerinds  from  the  very  beginning  had  numerous 
vivid  lessons  from  the  whites  in  murder,  treachery,  and  kindred 
crimes.1  They  were  frequently  slain  without  cause  or  mercy  ; 
they  were  enslaved  when  possible  ;  their  records  were  destroyed  ; 
and,  most  terrible  of  all,  they  were  burned  alive  at  the  stake.  But 
this  latter  diversion  had  been  practised  in  Europe,  where  St. 
Ferdinand  with  his  own  hands  heaped  the  fagots  on  the  blazing 
pile.  The  Conquistadores  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  versed 
in  as  much  cruelty  as  the  Amerinds  had  ever  dreamed  of ;  yet  in 
the  midst  of  it  all  there  were  men  like  Las  Casas  and  Viceroy 
Mendoza,  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the  barbarities  practised, 
and  whose  characters  bring  relief  in  the  broad  and  hideous  black 
ness.  Ship-loads  of  slaves  were  carried  off  each  year,  and  the 
system  of  repartimientos  placed  every  Amerind  in  bondage. 

Opposition  was  punished  in  the  most  terrible  ways  possible 
to  devise.  In  one  instance  the  offenders,  seventeen  or  eighteen 
caciques,  were  strangled  and  mangled  by  dogs  kept  for  the  pur 
pose,  the  execution  taking  place  in  the  public  square,  so  that  the 
struggles  of  the  unfortunates  might  make  a  spectacle.  Again 
the  Spaniards  invited  some  chiefs  to  a  conference,  as  told  by 
Brinton,  in  a  large  wooden  building,  which  was  then  burned  up 
with  the  chiefs  in  it.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  back  so  far  for 
examples  of  the  treacherous  brutality  with  which  the  whites  have 
treated  the  Amerinds.  Were  it  so,  the  cruelty  and  injustice 
might  perhaps  be  regarded  as  merely  circumstances  of  the  period, 
but  Beckwourth,  in  his  Narrative,''  relates  an  incident,  also  referred 

1  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  general  estimate  of  the  Amerind  is 
entirely  drawn  from  white  men's  writings.    The  Amerind  side  has  never  been 
presented. 

2  Narrative  of  James  P.    Beckwourth,   p.    254 ;    Irving's   Bonneville, 
p.  225. 


Introductory  5 

to  by  Washington  Irving,  quite  as  horrible  as  any  that  occurred 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  Beckwotirth  came  upon  some  white 
trappers  who  had  captured  two  Amerinds  from  a  party  of  Ari- 


Peabody  Museum 

SEATED    FIGURE    CARVED    IN    TRACHYTE 
From  debris  of  hieroglyphic  steps,  Copan.     Slightly  larger  than  life  size 

karees  who  had  stolen  their  horses.  The  Arikarees  offered  to 
return  some,  but  not  all,  of  the  horses  in  exchange  for  the  prison 
ers,  but  the  trappers  declared  they  would  burn  their  captives  alive 


6  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

if  all  the  horses  were  not  returned.  The  threat  was  disregarded. 
Thereupon  the  logs  on  the  top  of  a  huge  fire  were  separated,  the 
two  helpless,  chain-bound  prisoners  were  dropped  into  the  red 
furnace,  and  the  naming  logs  replaced.  "  There  was  a  terrible 
struggle  for  a  moment,"  says  Beckwourth,  "  then  all  was  still." 
And  thus  was  another  lesson  of  the  mercy  and  justice  of  the  White 
rendered  unto  the  Red. 

Nearer  to  us  than  this  we  have  an  incident  even  more  diaboli 
cal,  because  without  the  provocation  the  trappers  had.  Horse 
stealing  down  to  recent  times  in  the  West  has  always  been  liable 
to  punishment  by  death,  so  the  trappers  might  be  somewhat 
excused  on  that  ground  in  the  minds  of  some,  but  in  the  year 
1898,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  two  Amerinds  were  burned  alive 
at  the  stake  by  a  mob  of  whites.  The  accusation,  too,  was  a  mere 
suspicion,  and  it  was  later  established  that  the  Amerinds  were 
perfectly  innocent.  After  such  deeds  we  may  well  pause  when 
our  inclination  is  to  vaunt  the  superiority  of  the  white  men  over 
the  red. 

Notwithstanding  the. popular  idea  that  the  Amerinds  were 
devils  incarnate,  many  tribes  when  first  encountered  were  kindly, 
and  trusted  the  newcomers  till  the  moment  came,  as  it  soon  did, 
when  they  were  basely  deceived.  That  all  tribes  were  trusting  is 
not  claimed,  but  it  is  well  known  that  many  explorers  found  the 
Amerinds  ready  to  receive  them  fairly  and  honestly.  Neither 
Cartier  nor  Roberval  met  with  hostility  from  natives,  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  straightforwardness  of  Penn  in  his  dealings  with  them 
is  unquestioned.1  It  has  been  stated  that  the  European  is  no  more 
than  a  whitewashed  savage,  and  his  intercourse  with  the  Amerind 
people  bears  out  this  description.  There  was  often  provocation 
on  both  sides,  augmented  by  the  complete  ignorance  of  each 
other's  ways  and  customs.  Actions  which  were  correct  according 
to  the  manners  of  the  Amerinds  were  offensive  to  the  whites,  and 
vice  verm,  and,  to  add  to  the  ever-increasing  hostility,  the  whites 

1  "  Amidst  all  the  devastating  incursions  of  the  Indians  in  North  Amer 
ica  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  no  Friend  who  stood  faithful  to  his  principles 
in  the  disuse  of  all  weapons  of  war,  the  cause  of  which  was  generally  well 
understood  by  the  Indians,  ever  suffered  personal  molestation  from  them," 
vol.  v.,  p.  63,  Brinton's  Library  of  Am,  Ab.  Literature,  from  An  Account 
of  the  Conduct  of  the  Society  of  Friends  toward  the  Indians,  p.  72.  London, 
1844. 


Introductory  7 

resented  upon  all  Amerinds  the  crime  or  indiscretion  of  one  or  a 
few  members  of  a  particular  tribe.     If  an  Amerind  committed  a 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


KICKING    BEAR,   SIOUX 


crime,  the  next  one  met  with  suffered  for  it.     When  Walker,  in 
1833,  treacherously  abandoned  the  line  of  work  Bonneville  had 


8  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

laid  out  for  him  and  struck  down  the  Humboldt  for  California,  one 
of  the  men  had  his  traps  carried  off  by  some  of  the  Shoshokoes.  He 
swore  to  kill  the  first  one  he  should  meet,  and  so  their  trail  was 
one  of  blood.  At  one  place  they  murdered  no  less  than  twenty- 
five  unsuspecting  red  people  without  provocation.  This  was  the 
manner  in  which  these  pioneers  exhibited  their  superiority.  There 
have  always,  too,  been  certain  whites,  more  or  less  outlawed,  like 
one  Rose,  who  have  struck  up  a  friendship  with  the  worst  tribes 
for  the  purpose  of  inciting  them  against  the  whites  to  advance 
their  own  profit. 

Previous  to  the  European  invasion  the  Amerind  was  not  always 
at  war,  though  many  seem  to  think  that  he  was.  His  territorial 
lines  were  generally  well  defined,  and,  as  a  rule,  he  stayed  within 
them.  Their  villages,  for  the  Amerind  was  always  a  village 
dweller,  were  far  apart  north  of  Mexico,  and  as  long  as  there  was 
no  contention  over  property  or  water  rights,  things  went  smoothly, 
and  even  during  hostilities  intercourse  was  not  always  entirely 
broken  off.  So  that  there  was  frequently  a  large  measure  of 
security  and  periods  of  uninterrupted  peace.  He  worked  at  hunt 
ing,  fishing,  and,  in  all  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi,  in 
Mexico,  and  many  tribes  west,  at  agriculture.  The  arrival  and 
the  westward  movement  of  the  Europeans  crowded  back  the  tribes 
across  boundaries  and  upon  lands  they  had  no  right  to,  and  fre 
quent  wars  were  the  inevitable  result.  Finally  the  acquisition  of 
the  horse  gave  facility  of  movement  never  before  possessed,  and 
made  quick  journeys  and  night  attacks  feasible,  while  the  desire 
to  secure  as  many  of  the  valuable  animals  as  possible  added  a 
new  and  great  incentive  to  theft  and  consequent  warfare.  The 
Amerind  began  to  change,  in  fact,  the  moment  he  acquired  the 
horse  and  the  gun,  adapting  both  to  his  needs  and  using  them 
with  consummate  skill.  The  whites  did  not  try  to  understand 
him,  nor  were  they  superior  to  him  in  the  matter  of  patience  or 
forgiveness.  One  thing  was  well  understood  by  the  whites,  how 
ever,  and  continues  to  this  day,  and  that  was  that  an  Amerind  has 
no  rights  that  a  white  man  is  bound  to  respect,  or  even  to  consider. 
The  natives  north  of  the  Aztec  country  were  regarded  as  vaga 
bonds  and  vagrants  who  had  no  right  to  anything,  while  those  of 
Mexico,  whom  the  Spaniards  had  meanwhile  reduced  everywhere 
to  abject  slaves,  were  believed  to  be  a  different  race,  with  former 
qualities  that  were  greatly  exaggerated  by  the  Europeans.  And 


Introductory 


9 


then,  later,  in  the  effort  to  counteract  the  extravagant  notions 
entertained  of  the  Aztecs,  their  remarkable  growth,  and  that  of 
the  Mayas,  was  by  some  writers  reduced  to  the  level  of  that  of  the 
Pueblo  tribes  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  which  is  undoubtedly 
a  serious  error  in  the  other  direction.  Montezuma  was  probably 
not  a  king  nor  an  emperor  as  those  terms  are  understood  by  us,  but 
it  is  difficult  to  accept  him  as  little  more  than  a  Moki  war-chief, 
especially  as  one  can  readily  see  that  a  few  steps  farther,  even  in 
the  line  of  Moki  development,  might  have  produced  a  form  of 


A    CORNER    OF    A    MITLA    RUIN,    MEXICO 
From  Bandelier's  Archceological  Tour,  published  by  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America 

government  partaking  of  the  monarchical,  but  different  from  any 
thing  that  we  know  about.1  Ever  since  I  saw  one  of  our  Arizona 
Pai  Ute  guides,  a  chief  of  his  band,  command  a  follower  to  take 
off  his  shoes  as  he  reclined  by  the  fire,  I  have  suspected  the  exist 
ence  among  the  Amerinds  of  a  latent  germ  of  aristocracy. 

In  the  first  flush  of  the  discovery  of  America,  Europe  was  wild 
with  the  romance  of  it,  and  mystery  was  the  order  of  the  day. 

1  Payne  says,  "Anahuac  was  becoming  a  military  despotism."     History 
of  the  New  World  called  Americi,  vol.  ii.,  p.  494. 


io  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

More  wonderful  things  still  were  expected.  Fables  that  had  done 
good  service  for  centuries  were  transported  to  the  new  lands,  and 
there  blazed  up  with  the  mysterious  uncertainty  of  the  ignis  fatuus> 
luring  and  deceiving,  till  the  gold-thirsting  Europeans  struggled 
in  the  pursuit  of  such  phantoms  as  the  "  Seven  Cities."  The 
most  extraordinary  tales  appeared  tame  in  that  atmosphere  of 
dazzling  imagination.  Exaggeration  of  one  kind  or  another  has 
ever  since  been  the  inheritance  of  the  Amerind  people,  and  it  is 
only  within  a  comparatively  few  years  that  these  "  Americans  of 
Yesterday  "  have  been  scientifically  studied  and  their  real  charac 
ter  and  attainments  given  proper  places.  The  whole  matter  of 
American  ethnology  and  archaeology  is  new  ;  so  new  that  it  is 
impossible  to  speak  with  decision  on  a  great  many  points.  In  the 
United  States  we  have  usually  regarded  the  Amerind  as  the  incar 
nation  of  evil  ;  a  treacherous  demon  with  a  bloody  knife  in  one 
hand  and  a  scalp-lock  in  the  other,  and  we  have  generally  refused 
to  consider  the  finer  traits  of  his  character.  So  callous  have  we 
become  to  his  good  points  that  Cooper  is  ridiculed  for  his 
delineation  of  Amerinds  that  have  instincts  or  principles  above 
the  brute,  and  yet  Cooper's  chief  models  were  the  Iroquois  who 
established  a  remarkable  political  organisation. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  be  what  has  been  scornfully  called  (l  an 
Indian  lover"  to  be  interested  in  this  extraordinarily  homogene 
ous  race  that  was  scattered  from  Alaska  to  Patagonia.  Such 
interest  should  be  a  matter  apart  from  sentiment.  We  are  in 
terested  in  the  primitive  man  of  Europe  ;  few  would  have  been 
pleased  to  live  with  him.  So  the  question  whether  we  "  like" 
the  Amerind  people  and  would  enjoy  social  intercourse  with 
them  is  not  to  the  point.  It  is  a  matter  of  education  ;  a  matter, 
in  fact,  of  the  study  of  ourselves  as  others  saw  us  some  thou 
sands  of  years  ago,  for  the  Amerind  people  were  passing  through 
phases  of  human  existence  which,  in  all  probability,  our  remote 
ancestors  also  passed  through  ;  so  that  by  examining  this  kind  of 
life  we  are  holding  up  the  mirror  to  ourselves.  Till  recently  the 
apathy  shown  on  this  subject  was  surprising.  People  generally 
were  not  aware  that  there  were  differences  in  "  Indians,"  or  that 
they  spoke  different  languages.  The  idea  that  there  was  any 
profit  in  studying  them  was  popularly  considered  ridiculous.  He 
was  a  "  good-for-nothing,"  and  that  was  all  that  there  was  about 
it.  But  we  can  no  more  find  fault  with  the  Amerind  for  not 


Introductory 


II 


being  a  European  than  we  can  with  a  stage-coach  for  not  being  a 
locomotive.  We  must  accept  him  as  he  was,  and  as  he  is,  and 
wherever  possible  study  him  and  write  him  down  so  minutely 
that  generations  of  ethnologists  to  come  will  shower  blessings  on 
our  heads.  We  must  constantly  remember  that  the  Amerind 
point  of  view  is  different  from  ours,  and  that  we  too  are  only  in  a 
transitional  stage. 


• 


Peabody  Museum 

SCULPTURES    FROM    TERRACE    EAST    OF    THE    GREAT    PLAZA,    COPAN 

The  Amerind  people,  like  ourselves,  represent  merely  a  stage 
of  human  progress.  Our  stage  is  in  advance  of  theirs,  but  it  is 
by  no  means  perfection.  We  do  not  scalp,  but  the  revolver  is 
quite  as  active  as  their  scalping-knife,  and  we  require  a  great 
number  of  policemen  to  keep  us  civilised.  As  for  war,  the  Euro 
pean  race  has  certainly  not  been  backward  in  that  respect.  In 
Europe  to-day  vast  bodies  of  men  are  withdrawn  from  every  other 
service  and  trained  for  war  with  a  completeness  that  the  Amerind 
never  dreamed  of  ;  and  in  the  United  States  we  have  probably 


12  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

already  killed  more  men  in  wars  than  ever  at  one  time  peopled  it 
in  aboriginal  days.  For  in  those  days  the  various  groups  of 
Amerinds  were  separated  by  tracts  of  unoccupied  territory  ;  un 
occupied  except  as  the  hunters  roamed  over  it  in  search  of  their 
food,  and  the  population  outside  of  the  Aztec  country  and  Central 
America  was  generally  sparse.  Nor  was  the  distribution  of  this 
population  always  the  same  as  it  was  revealed  to  us  by  the  Dis 
covery.  Tribes  developed,  rose  to  power,  declined  and  passed 
away,  leaving  little,  where  their  art  development  was  slight,  to 
indicate  their  former  presence,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  the 
degrees  of  their  political  attainments.  Had  not  our  own  history 
come  in  to  rescue  the  confederacy  of  the  Iroquois,  their  remains, 
assuming  them  to  have  declined  without  further  art  develop 
ment,  would  have  conveyed  no  suspicion  of  their  political  or 
ganisation. 

Back  and  forth  the  Amerind  race  moved,  up  and  down,  across 
the  face  of  the  American  continent  through  the  forgotten  ages  in 
ever  shifting  waves  impelled,  in  the  main,  by  climatic  conditions 
and  food  quest,  some  leaving  behind  no  record,  others  bequeathing 
to  the  future  monuments  and  edifices  that  astonished  the  world 
and  gave  birth  to  elaborate  and  far-fetched  theories  to  account  for 
a  development  that  seems  to  have  required  no  more  than  time  and 
the  circumstances  which  existed.  All  the  remains  on  this  con 
tinent  appear  to  be  palpably  American  ;  the  work  of  the  Amerinds 
in  their  various  degrees  of  progress.  Whether  they  came  from  one 
source  or  several,  they  have  been  long  enough  here  to  become 
homogeneous  from  one  end  of  the  hemisphere  to  the  other,  and 
this,  it  is  evident,  would  require  a  great  stretch  of  time.1  They 
clearly  separated  from  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  world,  in  any 
case,  at  a  period  before  those  inhabitants  had  developed  present 
characteristics  From  the  time  the  human  race  was  born,  whether 
as  an  ape  or  as  it  now  stands,  there  was  differentiation  of  habits, 
customs,  and  knowledge  which  has  never  ceased  and  which  never 
will  cease.  But  as  light,  air,  and  natural  conditions  are  similar 
or  the  same  the  world  round,  and  as  cerebral  matter  seems  to  be 
practically  the  same  in  all  peoples,  humanity  has  passed  every 
where  through  about  the  same  stages  of  development,  and  each 
stock  or  tribe  in  time  has  arrived  at  about  the  same  place  on  the 
road  of  progress  because  they  could  not  help  it.  Conditions  might 
1  See  Preface  and  the  last  chapter 


14  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

force  one  people  ahead  while  other  conditions  might  be  retarding 
another,  but  whatever  progression  there  has  ever  been  was  made 
on  practically  the  same  lines.  The  same  race,  however,  does  not 
throughout  always  develop  evenly.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  said 
that  "  different  races  in  similar  stages  of  development  often  present 
more  features  of  resemblance  to  one  another  than  the  same  race 
does  to  itself  in  different  stages  of  its  history,"  and  to-day  in 
Arizona  there  exist  near  to  each  other  two  branches  of  the  wide 
spread  Shoshonean  l  stock,  the  Pai  Utes  and  the  Mokis,  who 
exhibit  the  most  marked  differences  of  customs,  the  latter  living 
in  substantial  houses  of  stone  while  the  former  occupy  the  rudest 
kind  of  brush  wikiups. 

The  Amerind  people  were  living  in  various  stages  of  progress 
at  the  time  of  the  Discovery.  The  Mexicans,  according  to  Lewis 
Morgan,  were  "  one  stage  higher  than  the  Mohawks  and  one 
stage  lower  than  the  warriors  of  the  Iliad"  Accepting  this  as 
correct,  we  would  be  able  to  trace  human  development  back  of  the 
Greeks  through  the  Amerinds  of  North  America.  Morgan  sug 
gested  the  classification  of  mankind  in  three  broad  ethnic  stages  : 
Savagery,  Barbarism,  and  Civilisation,2  the  first  ending  with  the 
acquisition  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  represented  here  by  the  Pai  Utes; 
the  second  ending  with  the  smelting  of  iron  ore,  represented  by 
the  early  Greeks  ;  and  the  third  beginning  with  a  phonetic  alpha 
bet,  and  represented  by  ourselves.  In  this  scheme  the  Mexicans 
would  fall  in  the  middle  period  of  Barbarism.  This  is  a  fairly 
good  working  basis,  but,  like  all  generalisations,  it  is  only  general. 
It  must  not  be  rigidl}7  adhered  to.  The  conditions  on  this  con 
tinent  were  quite  different  from  those  in  Europe,  and  consequently 
the  line  of  development  could  not  be  precisely  the  same.  There 
seems  to  be  no  good  argument  yet  advanced  and  no  archaeological 
data  yet  exhibited  that  compel  us  to  seek  an  outside  derivation 
for  the  Amerind  race  ;  and  this  being  so,  it  is  about  as  reasonable 
to  search  this  continent  for  the  original  home  of  the  yellow  race 
as  to  go  to  Asia  for  that  of  the  red.  That  they  may  have  come 
from  there  is  possible,  and  so  also  it  is  possible  that  they  came 
from  Europe.  Nor  should  we  at  present  exclude  even  the  lost 

1  Brinton's  ' '  Uto-Aztecan . "     The  connection  between  the  Nabuatl,  or 
Aztec,  and  Shoshonean  is  not  well  established. 

2  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  Houses  and  House  Life.     Dr.  W.  J.  McGee  has 
added  a  fourth  stage,  "  Enlightenment." 


Introductory  15 

Atlantis,1  for  the  geography  of  the  world  was  not  always  as  it  is 
now,  and  the  elevation  and  subsidence  of  lands  are  still  in  progress. 
This,  of  course,  is  admitted,  as  also  that  there  was  a  land  connec 
tion  across  the  Atlantic  before  man  appeared  in  the  world  ;  but 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


MOKI    MASK    OF    PAWIKKATCINA 


man  may  have  appeared  earlier  than  we  suspect,  and  this  lost 
land  may  have  been  in  sunshine  later  than  we  believe." 

The  Amerinds  of  North  America  were  practically  a  people  of 
stone  culture,  because  while  some  had  developed  an  ability  to 

1  For  a  full  statement  of  this  story,  see  the  fascinating  book,  Atlantis: 
The  Antediluvian  World,  by  Ignatius  Donnelly. 

2  See  Chap.  XVI.  and  also  the  Preface. 


i6 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


employ  copper  to  a  limited  extent,  they  used  stone  tools  for 
most  of  their  work  ;  their  highest  government  appears  to  have 
been  the  confederacy,  with  in  some  cases  perhaps  a  monarchical 
tendency  ;  they  were  without  domestic  animals  ;  without  beasts 
of  burden  ;  without  fireplaces  or  chimneys  ;  without  inside  stairs  ; 
and  without  wheeled  vehicles.  There  was  no  mystery  about 
them.  They  ranged  the  continent,  as  has  been  noted,  impelled 
by  food  quest  and  climate.  They  lived  bravely  and  they  died 
without  fear.  The  following  chapters  will  tell  some  of  the  things 
they  did,  with  the  hope  that  readers  may  arrive  at  a  better  under 
standing  of  the  people  that  so  long  had  a  half- world  to  themselves. 


Peabody  Museum 

SPECIMEN    OF    SCULPTURE    ON    HIEROGLYPHIC    STAIRWAY,    COPAN 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


ESKIMO    JADE    ADZE 


CHAPTER  II 


IvANGUAGES   AND   DIALKCTS 

THERE  were  many  tribes  and  many  tribe-groups,  or,  as  the  lat 
ter  are  usually  designated,  ' '  stocks, ' '  among  the  Amerinds. 
These  various  stocks  differed  considerably  from  each  other 
in  manners,  customs,  possibly  in  origin,  and  in  languages,  the 
last  often  being  widely  different.1  Yet  there  was  a  homogeneity 
binding  them  all  together  as  one  distinct  race  while  at  the  same 
time  separating  them  completely  from  other  races  of  the  world  as 
now  constituted.  The  subdivisions  of  the  Amerind  stocks  were 
not  always  contiguously  distributed  on  the  continent,  but,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Navajo- Apache  branch  of  the  Athapascan,  some 
times  separated  from  their  kindred  by  wide  stretches  of  territory 
peopled  by  other  stocks,  and  also,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Navajos, 
somewhat  altered  by  absorption  of  people  of  another  stock.  Vari 
ous  methods  of  arranging  the  distribution  and  classification  of 
these  stocks  have  been  attempted,  but  the  basis  of  language  appears 
to  offer  the  most  advantages  and  the  greatest  accuracy.  There 
are  some  who  dispute  the  correctness  of  the  present  analysis  of 
the  Amerind  languages,  and  deprecate  the  classifications  obtained 

1  The  widest  differences  were  in  the  Maya  and  the  Timuquauan.  Each 
of  these  differed  greatly  from  the  bulk  of  the  Amerind  languages  and  from 
each  other,  probably  because  both  stocks  held  more  isolated  positions  than 
the  others  during  the  glacial  period,  and  preserved  more  of  their  earlier  life, 

whatever  it  may  have  been. 
2 

17 


1 8  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

by  this  means,'  but  foremost  students,  like  Brinton,  Gatschet, 
Powell,  Steinthal,  and  others,  have  pronounced  unequivocally  in 
favour  of  its  value  when  applied  with  judgment. 

"  Nothing  is  so  indelible  as  speech,"  wrote  George  Bancroft  ; 
"  sounds  that  in  ages  of  unknown  antiquity  were  spoken  among 
the  nations  of  Hindostan  still  live  in  their  significancy  in  the  lan 
guage  which  we  daily  utter."  And  this  fact  has  been  the  corner 
stone  of  the  modern  science  of  linguistics,  which  maintains 
accordingly  that  the  possession  of  similar  language  roots  and 
grammatical  construction  by  two  otherwise  distinct  tribes  proves 
a  relationship  or  a  common  descent.  In  this  way,  as  is  well 
understood,  the  Indo-Germanic  —  that  is,  our  European  stock — 
has  been  traced  back  toward  its  origin.  The  accuracy  of  this  has 
been  questioned,  but  it  doubtless  affords  the  best  method  attain 
able.2  The  same  principle  is  applicable  to  the  American  languages, 
which  afford  an  immense  field  for  linguistic  study  in  their  great 
diversity.  This  diversity  is  not  popularly  understood,  the  majority 
of  our  people  believing  that  if  a  person  can  speak  "  Indian  "  he 
could  converse  with  every  tribe  on  the  continent.  Yet  within  a 
limited  area  in  Arizona  he  would  find  useless  in  four  different 
tribes  the  language  he  had  learned,  say,  in  California  ;  and  in  Cali 
fornia  itself  some  twenty  or  thirty  tribes  would  listen  to  his  words, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  each  other,  without  a  gleam  of  understanding. 
And  not  one  of  the  languages  of  any  of  these  tribes  would  serve 
him  in  the  Mississippi  or  in  the  Atlantic  region  any  better  than 
gnglish,  for  the  Iroquois  and  the  Algonquin  and  other  Eastern 
tongues  are  as  widely  different  from  those  of  California  as  they 
are  from  each  other,  while  every  one  contains  numerous  dialects, 
or  what  may  be  called  sub-languages,  also  exhibiting  great  varia 
tions.  The  early  missionaries  were  slow  to  discover  these  facts, 
and  it  was  a  source  of  discouragement  for  them  to  learn  that,  after 
long  study  to  acquire  a  language,  it  was  spoken  by  only  a  single 
group  of  the  natives,  while  adjacent  to  them  dwelt  others  who 
spoke  a  totally  different  one.3 

'SeeJ.  N.  B.  Hewitt,  American  Anthropologist,  October,  1893. 

2  "There  are  well-known  examples  in  the  ethnography  of  other  races, 
where  reliance  on  language  alone  would  lead  the  investigator  astray  ;  but 
all  serious  students  of  the  native  American  tribes  are  united  in  the  opinion 
that  with  them  no  other  clue  can  compare  to  it  in  general  results." — D.  G. 
Brinton,  The  American  Race,  Preface. 

3  As   to  the  value   of  linguistics   as  a  means   of  classification,   Cyrus 


Languages  and   Dialects  19 

Even  where  a  group  of  Amerinds  speak  related  languages,  or 
dialects,  there  are,  and  were,  such  wide  variations  that  the  one  is 
not  understood  by  those  speaking  the  other.  Therefore  we  have 


Peabody  Museum 

"SINGING-GIRL"  SCULPTURED  IN  TRACHYTE 

From  debris  of  Temple  22,  Copan.     Slightly  larger  than  life 

Thomas  says :  "  On  the  one  side,  it  is  held  by  some  authors  that  affinity  of 
languages  implies  racial  identity  or  unity  of  origin  ;  on  the  other,  it  is  con 
tended  that  the  theory  that  the  affinity  of  languages  necessarily  implies 
identity  of  race  is  not  warranted." 


20 


The   North-Americans   of  Yesterday 


in  North  America  not  only  a  large  number  of  distinct  languages, 
but  within  these  separate  languages  an  immense  number  of  dia 
lects  or  sub-languages,  sometimes  as  many  as  twenty  in  one  stock 
varying  from  each  other  as  much  as,  say,  English  and  German. 
At  least  sixty-five  of  the  separate  stock  languages  are  distin 
guished  in  North  America  which  appear  so  radically  separated 
from  each  other  that  it  is  believed  impossible  that  they  ever 
should  have  sprung  from  the  same  parent,  unless  it  may  have  been 
at  a  time  so  remote  as  to  be  beyond  the  scope  of  present  investiga 
tion.  In  the  classification  according  to  these  languages  it  has 
been  necessary  to  have  a  general  designation  for  each  stock,  and 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


TERRA  COTTA  STOOL,  CHIRIQUI 


in  selecting  the  names  to  be  thus  used,  Powell  and  others  have 
observed  the  law  of  priority  of  mention,  as  far  as  possible,  and 
have  derived  the  stock  name  from  the  author  first  mentioning  it 
in  print  since  1836,  the  date  of  Gallatin's  great  work,  which  is 
taken  as  the  foundation.  The  termination  "  an,"  or  "  ian,"  is 
added  to  distinguish  the  family  or  stock  name  from  a  tribal  name, 
for  often  a  tribe  bears  the  name  given  to  the  whole  stock.  As  ex 
amples,  Algonquian  may  be  mentioned  as  a  stock  name  taken  from 
the  tribal  name  of  Algonquin,  and  Mayan  from  the  tribal  name, 
Maya.  This  is  not  always  strictly  adhered  to  outside  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology  because  of  its  frequent  inconvenience,  and  in  the  case 
of  Mayan  the  term  Maya  is  preferably  used  by  some  investigators 
and  writers  as  being  simpler,  and  Brinton  gives  it  as  the  stock 


Languages  and  Dialects  21 

name.1  Following  the  distribution  of  tribes  as  closely  as  possible 
at  the  time  of  the  first  contact  with  white  men,  Powell  and  his  able 
associates  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology  in  Washington 
have  produced  a  map,  based  on  Gallatin's.2  The  separate  stocks 
north  of  Mexico  are  each  represented  by  a  different  colour,  every 
colour  standing  for  a  variation  in  language  as  great  as  that  between 
Hebrew  and  English,  not  related  as  English  and  Spanish.  Fifty- 
eight  are  thus  shown,  but  south  of  the  Mexican  border  are  perhaps 


ALTAR    Q,    COPAN,    HONDURAS 
From  photograph  by  M.  H.  Saville,  Museum  of  Natural  History 

a  dozen  more.  Continuous  study  may  succeed  in  bringing  some 
of  the  stocks  into  relationship  or  in  dividing  them  still  further. 
In  their  beginning,  languages  probably  changed  rapidly;,  memory 
was  deficient,  intercourse  slight,  and  comparatively  short  separa 
tions  of  tribes  speaking  originally  the  same  tongue  were  sufficient 
to  establish  entire  new  sets  of  words.  These  separations  were  apt 
to  occur  frequently  when  methods  of  subsistence  were  crude  and 
difficult,  migrations  frequent,  and  population  sparse.  As  races 
developed  memory  grew  to  better  proportions,  and  after  the 

1  D.  G.  Brinton,  The  American  Race.     He  does  not  approve  wholly  of 
these  terminations. 

2  Seventh  Annual  Report,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  contains  complete 
list  of  American  race  stocks,  north  of  Mexico,  as  far  as  known.  See  Appendix. 


22  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

introduction  among  the  Amerinds  of  mnemonic  records  and  other 
memory  devices  their  languages  became  more  crystallised,  till 
within  the  later  centuries  changes  have  come  about  slowly. 
That  many  more  languages  once  existed  on  the  American  conti 
nents  than  we  have  any  trace  of  is,  therefore,  probable.  By 
intercourse,  by  intermingling,  by  the  crossing  and  absorbing  of 
stocks  was  finally  produced  what  we  find  to-day,  or  did  find  yes 
terday,  a  reduced  number  of  different  stocks,  but  still  so  many 
that  the  archaeologist  views  the  field  with  amazement,  and  the 
layman  looks  upon  it  with  incredulity. 

And  these  Amerind  languages  are  as  remarkable  for  their  sepa 
ration  in  a  body  from  the  Old  World  languages  as  they  are  in 
their  separation  from  each  other.  This  in  itself  seems  to  bestow 
upon  the  Amerind  people  a  vast  antiquity  in  their  isolation  from 
other  peoples,  and  adding  to  it  the  testimony  of  their  art  works, 
their  implements,  and  their  pictographs  and  hieroglyphs,  there 
seems  to  be  no  escape  from  granting  them  to  be  a  division  of  man 
kind  by  themselves. 

Not  only  does  the  differentiation  of  the  stock  languages  indi 
cate  antiquity,  but  that  of  the  dialects  adds  strong  testimony. 
Brinton  cites  Dr.  Stohl's  opinion  that  "  the  difference  which  is  pre 
sented  between  the  Cakchiquel  and  the  Maya  dialects  could  not 
have  arisen  in  less  than  2000  j^ears." 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  Amerind  languages  are  loose  and 
shifting  and  that  a  few  centuries  would  be  sufficient  to  bring  about 
on  this  continent  a  complete  and  total  difference  in  a  language 
from  its  mother  tongue  in,  we  will  say,  Siberia  ;  but  the  more 
closely  the  matter  is  studied  the  more  apparent  is  the  tenacity 
with  which  each  stock  retains  its  special  form.  Of  this  tenacity 
a  modern  example  exists  in  the  village  of  Tewa  (or  Hano)  now 
forming  one  of  the  seven  villages  of  the  Moki,  and  situated  on 
what  is  known  as  the  "  First  or  East  Mesa."  The  people  of  this 
village  are  not  Hopi  (Moki)  stock,  Hopi  being  the  Moki  name  for 
themselves,2  but  belong  to  a  Rio  Grande  stock,  the  Taiioan  of 
Powell,  and  the  Tehua  of  Brinton,  having  come  from  the  Rio 
Grande  country  to  their  present  location  somewhere  about  1680. 
The  Moki,  who  are  believed  to  belong  to  the  Shoshonean  stock 

1  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  35. 

2  Hopi  is  the  singular ;  Hopituh  the  plural.     Dr.  Fewkes  and  others 
having  decided  in  favour  of  the  singular  form,  it  is  so  given  here. 


24  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

(though  they  are  probably  composite),  permitted  them  to  repair 
and  occupy  old  houses  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
village  and  there  they  have  lived  amicably  ever  since,  to  all  ap 
pearances  completely  amalgamated  with  the  Moki.  The  ordinary 
observer  sees  little  to  distinguish  them  from  the  other  Amerinds 
of  the  locality,  and  they  speak  the  Moki  language  like  Mokis,  but 
within  their  own  village  and  by  their  own  firesides  they  largely 
use  the  speech  of  their  forefathers,  and  to  all  appearances  will  go 
on  speaking  it  till  the  end.  Here,  then,  is  this  little  community 
separated  for  a  long  period  and  by  many  miles  from  their  imme 
diate  kindred,  mingling  daily  with  people  of  another  stock  and 
another  language,  yet  preserving  their  own  language  intact. : 
And  if  this  has  happened  once  within  historical  times  it  may  have 
happened  before  any  number  of  times,  and  goes  to  prove  that  these 
various  languages  have  in  them  elements  of  stability  greater  than 
has  heretofore  been  admitted.  Powell  says  that  in  his  long  study 
of  savage  tongues  he  has  everywhere  been  "  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  they  are  singularly  persistent,  and  that  a  language  which 
is  dependent  for  its  existence  upon  oral  tradition  is  not  easily 
modified."  On  the  other  hand  John  Fiske  expresses  the  opinion 
that  "  barbaric  languages  are  neither  widespread  nor  durable.  In 
the  course  of  two  or  three  generations  a  dialect  gets  so  strangely  al 
tered  as  virtually  to  lose  its  identity. ' '  The  Algonquian  languages 
were  spread  over  an  immense  area,  and  the  Shoshonean  had  an  even 
greater  range. 

Brinton  contradicts  the  assertion  of  Waldeck  "  that  the  lan 
guage  (of  the  Mayas)  has  undergone  such  extensive  changes  that 
what  was  written  a  century  ago  is  unintelligible  to  a  native  of  to 
day.  So  far  is  this  from  the  truth  that,  except  for  a  few  obsolete 
words,  the  narrative  of  the  Conquest,  written  more  than  three 
hundred  years  ago  by  the  chief,  Pech,  could  be  read  without  diffi 
culty  by  any  educated  native."  Thus  it  seems  probable  that  the 
Amerind  languages  extant  have  been  spoken  nearly  as  we  know 
them  to-day  for  a  great  many  centuries,  and  that  modifications 
crept  in  slowly  ;  so  slowly  that  the  language  roots  and  gram 
matical  construction  of  the  various  stocks  are  so  distinct  that  they 

1  They  have  intermarried  with  the  Hopi  and  Navajo  till  Fewkes  believes 
that  in  "  the  next  generation  the  percentage  of  pure  Tafioan  blood  will  be 
so  small  that  we  cannot  regard  the  stock  as  Tafioan." — American  Anthro 
pologist,  April,  1894,  p.  167. 


Languages  and   Dialects  25 

form  the  safest  guide  now  available  in  the  classification  of  the 
various  branches  of  the  Amerind  race  ;  and  furthermore  that, 
judged  by  these  tests,  these  languages  have  no  relationship  to  any 
other  group.  Powell  places  more  reliance,  as  a  test,  in  the  lexical 
elements, — that  is,  in  the  language  roots, — than  in  the  grammatical 
structure,  as  the  latter  is  constantly  changing.  ' '  The  roots  of  a 
language,"  he  maintains,  "  are  its  most  permanent  characteristics, 
and  while  the  words  which  are  formed  from  them  may  change  so 
as  to  obscure  their  elements  or  in  some  cases  even  to  lose  them,  it 
seems  that  they  are  never  lost  from  all,  but  can  be  recovered  in 
large  part. ' '  If  there  should  be  advanced  the  criticism  that  these 
Amerind  languages  had  little  or  no  literature,  and  therefore  are 
not  equal  to  languages  so  recorded,  as  a  test  of  affinity,  it  may  be 
noted  that  the  largest  number  of  languages  throughout  the  world 
have  produced  no  literature.  Max  Miiller  says  :  "  It  is  a  mere  acci 
dent  that  languages  should  ever  have  been  reduced  to  writing." 
However  this  may  be,  such  an  accident  appears  to  be  in  the  line 
of  regular  human  development,  and  when  a  people  arrive  at  the 
right  point  in  their  mental  evolution  they  invent  a  means  of  re 
cording  their  thought.  It  seems,  therefore,  to  be  rather  a  state 
of  mind  than  an  accident.  The  Mayas  of  this  continent  had 
reached  the  point  for  speech  recording  and,  following  the  natural 
order,  they  invented  a  system  and  made  books  of  record. 

Because  of  certain  similarities  of  physique,  of  words,  or  of 
myths,  or  of  customs,  however  slight,  the  Amerinds  have  been 
identified  with  almost  every  people  under  the  sun.1  These  simi 
larities  are  only  such  as  might  occur  where  similar  organisms  are 
continuously  subjected  to  similar  conditions,  and  the  really  remark 
able  fact  is  that  there  are  not  more  and  even  closer  resemblances. 
Some  of  the  arguments  advanced  to  uphold  the  so-called  identifica 
tions  are  extraordinary.  In  language  the  Amerinds  have  been 
found  to  speak  —  or  at  least  have  been  claimed  to  speak  —  Irish, 
Welsh,  Norse,  Chinese,  and  many  other  independent  or  inter 
related  tongues,  yet  with  the  exception  of  the  Basque,  the  struc 
ture  of  all  the  Old  World  languages  has  little  in  common  with  the 
Amerind.  Brinton  has  shown  2  that  a  number  of  Maya  words  re 
semble  our  English  words  of  the  same  meanings,  as,  bateel  and 
battle,  hoi  and  hole,  hun  and  one,  lum  and  loam,  pol  and  poll 

1  See  Chap.  XVI. 

2  The  American  Race  and  Chronicles  of  the  Maya. 


26  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

(head),  potum  and  pot,  pul  and  pull,  and  so  on,  but  nobody  has 
yet  ventured  to  deduce  from  this  that  the  Mayas  are  first  cousins 
of  the  English.1  The  Maya  language  certainly  does  differ  from 
almost  all  others  on  the  continent  in  its  construction.  Before 
Gallatin's  time,  the  wildest  statements  flourished  because  the  few 
linguists  who  had  paid  attention  to  Amerind  languages  had 
worked  in  rather  a  desultory  manner  and  had  made  no  determined 
effort  to  systematise  them  and  group  them  under  their  stock 
names.  Gallatin  was  the  first  to  bring  order  out  of  what  appeared 
to  be  an  almost  hopeless  tangle,  and  Powell,  Brinton,  and  others, 
supplementing  and  developing  these  labours  of  Gallatin,  have  been 
able  to  present  the  subject  in  definite  shape  with  a  promise  of 
greater  accuracy  in  the  near  future.  Many  languages  which  are 
known  to  have  existed  at  the  beginning  of  European  acquaintance 
with  America  have  disappeared  with  the  tribes  which  used  them. 
Some  of  these  were  spoken  by  mere  handfuls  of  people,  while 
others  were  wider  spread. 

With  so  many  distinct  languages  on  the  continent,  and  with 
many  tribes  totally  ignorant  of  the  speech  of  their  neighbours, 
there  became  necessary  a  means  for  the  interchange  of  ideas  which 
should  not  entirely  rely  on  spoken  words,  and  this  means  was 
found  in  a  "sign-language"  assisted  by  a  few  words  of  each 
spoken  language  which  were  simple  and  commonly  known,  or  by 
words  which  belonged  to  no  spoken  language  but  which  through 
accident  were  attributed  by  each  side  to  the  other.  This  sign- 
language  was  of  extensive  development  and  existed  not  only 
among  the  Amerinds  but  all  over  the  world,  and  bore  a  resem 
blance  to  the  sign-language  now  used  in  some  of  our  deaf-mute 
schools.  This  peculiar  sign-language  possessed  varieties  like 
spoken  language  corresponding  to  dialects.  For  a  time  its  exist 
ence  was  disputed,  but  the  work  of  Mallery  and  others  has  estab 
lished  it  beyond  question. 

Besides  the  gesture  language,  tribes  not  understanding  each 
other's  speech  had  recourse  to  a  medley  of  corrupted  words  from 
each  language,  from  other  languages,  and  from  no  language  at 
all  but  springing  into  being  through  misunderstandings  and 
necessities.  When  white  men  came  upon  the  scene  they  often 
thought  they  were  talking  "  Indian,"  while  the  Amerinds  thought 

1  For  further  coincidences  see  Payne,  History  of  the  New  World  Called 
America^  vol.  ii.,  p.  78,  et  seq. 


Languages  and   Dialects 


27 


it  was  the  white  man's  tongue,  and  neither  was  talking  the  lan 
guage  of  the  other  at  all  or  of  any  other  people  in  existence.  It 
was  a  jargon.  If  the  whites  had  previously  learned  something  of 
another  Amerind  tongue,  for  example  Algonquin,  and  they  were 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


POLISHED    BLACK    WARE,    SANTA    CLARA,    NEW    MEXICO 


trying  to  talk  to  Dakotas,  they  would  use  Algonquin  terms,  sup 
posing  them  to  be  intelligible  to  the  Dakotas,  and  the  latter  would 
suppose  them  to  be  English  words.  These  would  gradually  ac 
cumulate  through  usage,  together  with  nondescript  terms,  until  a 
working  jargon  was  formed.  In  this  may  perhaps  be  discovered 


28  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

one  of  the  causes  that  led  to  the  former  belief  that  Amerind  lan 
guages  were  loose  and  changeable. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  most  interesting  of  the  jargon 
languages  is  that  known  as  the  Chinook,1  in  the  north-western 
United  States,  along  the  Columbia  River,  which  grew  into  such 
proportions  that  it  formed  at  length  the  principal  language  in  a 
wide  district.  It  is  made  up  of  words  from  Chinook,  Chehali, 
Selish,  Nootka,  English,  French,  and  other  languages,  with  a 
large  number  of  words  that  belong  nowhere  else.  This  same 
process  in  earlier  times  going  on  between  several  different  tribes 
doubtless  gave  birth  to  permanent  languages,  which  in  their  turn 
were  again  modified.  Even  in  our  own  every-day  English  we  use 
hundreds  of  borrowed  words  and  also  some  that,  like  "  skedaddle," 
"  mugwump,"  etc.,  were  coined  for  special  occasions.  We  hardly 
give  a  thought  to  the  origin  of  these  words  which  are  seen  side  by 
side  with  others  that  have  come  to  us  through  a  thousand  years 
and  still  others  that  were  only  yesterday  the  gift  of  the  Amerind. 
How  few  realise  when  they  say  chocolate,  squash,  mush,  hominy, 
pone,  succotash,  or  other  terms  equally  familiar  from  Amerind 
sources,  that  they  are  talking  "  Indian  "  !  Tobacco,  of  course,  all 
understand  came  from  the  native  language,  but  it  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  the  name  of  the  plant,  when  in  reality  it 
was  the  name  of  the  roll  of  leaves  from  the  plant,  which  was 
called  "  a  tobacco,"  as  we  now  call  it  a  cigar. 

Sometimes  words  appear  similar  when  they  have  no  shadow 
of  relationship,  the  resemblance  being  purely  accidental.  Powell 
cites  the  word  "  tia,"  meaning  deer  in  some  of  the  Shoshonean 
languages.  This  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  Shoshones  to  pronounce  our  own  word  ' '  deer, ' '  but 
further  investigation  has  shown  it  to  be  the  original  Shoshone 
name  for  deer,  and  that  in  some  dialects  it  was  called  "  tiats  "  and 
in  others  "  tiav."  Brinton,  as  already  mentioned,  calls  attention 
to  similar  resemblances  between  Maya  and  English  words. 

A  tribe  would  often  possess  two  languages,  one  known  only  to 
the  priesthood  and  the  other  the  language  of  the  people,  the  priest 
language  being  the  older,  just  as  to-day  we  find  the  priests  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  using  a  dead  language  in  their  sacred 
functions  while  the  parishioners  use  the  ordinary  one.  Bourke 

1  See  the  American  Anthropologist,  July,  1894,  vol.  vii.,  "The  Chinook 
Jargon,"  by  Myron  Eells. 


Languages  and   Dialects  29 

believed  that  the  Zuiiis  and  the  Mokis  each  have  a  language  of 
this  kind, '  and  it  is  thought  that  the  Central- American  tribes  also 
had.  Such  hieratic  languages  would  necessarily  be  far  older  than 
the  languages  in  common  use,  therefore  if  the  latter  tend  to  indi 
cate  a  great  antiquity  for  the  Amerind  race,  we  should  be  carried 
still  farther  back  by  the  hieratic  languages.  Occasionally  tribes 
have  spoken  two  languages,  both  familiar  to  the  common  people, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Tewas  speaking  Moki  as  well  as  their  own 
language,  already  referred  to.  The  Tubares  of  Mexico,  nearly 
extinct,  are  said  to  have  spoken  two  different  languages  among 
themselves,  one  a  dialect  of  the  Nahuatl.2 

Gatschet,  the  eminent  student  of  Amerind  languages,  declares 
that  "  the  majority  suppose  that  an  Indian  language  is  simply  a 
gibberish  not  worth  bothering  about,  but  languages  that  can  pre 
serve  identity  for  centuries  are  certainly  something  more  than 
gibberish."  He  further  points  out  that  while  "  the  Indian 
neglects  to  express  with  accuracy  some  relations  which  seem  of 
permanent  importance  to  us,  as  tense  and  sex,  his  language  is 
largely  superior  to  ours  in  the  variety  of  its  personal  pronouns,  in 
many  forms  expressing  the  mode  of  action,  or  the  idea  of  property 
and  possession,  and  the  relations  of  the  persons  addressed  to  the 
subject  of  the  sentence." 

Again  it  is  said  by  some  persons,  "  Why  study  languages  which 
have  no  literature,  and  dialects  that  are  known  only  to  savages  ?  " 
but  Max  M  tiller  insists  that  "  dialects  which  never  produced  any 
literature  at  all,  the  jargons  of  savage  tribes,  the  clicks  of  Hotten 
tots,  and  the  vocal  modulations  of  the  Indo-Chinese,  are  as  im 
portant,  nay,  for  the  solution  of  some  of  our  problems,  more 
important,  than  the  poetry  of  Homer  or  the  prose  of  Cicero.  We 
do  not  want  to  know  languages  ;  we  want  to  know  language,  what 
language  is,  how  it  can  form  a  vehicle  or  organ  of  thought  ;  we 
want  to  know  its  origin,  its  nature,  its  laws." 

Here  in  North  America  exists  a  splendid  field  for  this  study, 
but  until  recently  it  has  been  sadly  neglected.  This  neglect  has 
been  largely  due  to  the  attitude  of  the  people  at  large,  an  attitude 
of  apathy  and  contempt  for  anything  "  Indian."  Opportunities 

1  Snake  Dance  of  the  Mokis,  p.  190. 

2  There  are  analogies  between  the  Nahuatl  and  some  languages  of  the 
North-west  and  Alaska,  especially  that  of  the  Koluschan,  or  Tlinkit,  living 
along  the  sea  from  Dixon  Entrance  to  Prince  William  Sound. 


30  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

that  can  never  come  again  have  been  allowed  to  pass  heedlessly 
away.  We  have  not  half  realised  the  importance  of  collecting  the 
linguistic  treasures  that  are  scattered  across  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  country,  partly  because  of  the  foolish  and  narrow  estimate 
of  the  Amerind  which  for  so  long  a  time  dominated  the  public 
mind.  We  have  despised  his  languages  because  we  thought  he 
did  not  bathe  with  sufficient  frequency  !  '  To  draw  conclusions 
from  the  exterior  appearance  of  a  people  on  their  language,"  ex 
claims  Gatschet,  "  and  to  suppose  that  a  man  not  worth  looking 
at  cannot  speak  a  language  worth  studying,  would  be  the  acme 
of  superficiality."  Remnants  of  tribes  have  died  out  and  their 
language  unrecorded  has  died  with  them  even  within  a  compara 
tively  few  years.1 

As  an  example  of  the  necessity  for  prompt  investigation,  an 
incident  mentioned  by  Putnam  may  be  cited.  In  a  conversation 
with  a  gentleman  whom  he  had  recently  met,  he  learned  of  Mrs. 
Oliver's  acquaintance  with  the  Karankawas  of  Texas,  and  her 
knowledge  of  their  language.  Now  it  happened  that  Gatschet 
had  made  a  fruitless  search  in  Texas  for  some  trustworthy  informa 
tion  regarding  the  language  of  this  extinct  tribe,  and  when  Putnam 
sent  him  Mrs.  Oliver's  vocabulary  he  was  delighted  and  imme 
diately  paid  a  visit  to  the  old  lady,  obtaining  much  additional 
information  about  these  Amerinds,  among  whom  Mrs.  Oliver  had 
spent  her  early  life.  Within  three  months  afterward  she  died. 

That  the  Amerind  has  no  literature  is  true  if  by  literature 
we  mean  only  written  books,  for  outside  of  Yucatan  and  Mexico 
there  were  no  native  books,  and  the  Spaniards  burned  all  the}' 
could  find  of  these,  but  if  we  accept  the  enormous  number  of 
legends,  myths,  songs,  and  ceremonial  lore  m Demonically  recorded, 
as  literature,  and  they  surely  become  literature  when  we  write 
them  down,  then  the  Amerind  is  not  so  poor  in  this  respect  as  has 
been  generally  considered. 

In  North  America,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  the  various 
language  stocks  occupy  areas  differing  enormously  in  proportions. 
Some  are  confined  to  small  tracts,  while  others,  as  mentioned 
above,  are  spread  over  wide  territory.  The  Algonquian  stock,  for 

1  The  Maya,  however,  has  been  found  a  useful  language  by  Europeans. 
Dr.  Berendt  met  "whole  families  of  pure  white  blood"  who  used  this  lan 
guage  and  did  not  know  Spanish,  This  is  not  the  usual  fate  of  the  Amerind 
tongues. 


co 


32  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

instance,  occupied  an  immense  area  while  the  Zunian  is  a  mere 
spot  in  the  expanse  of  New  Mexico.  More  than  thirty  of  the 
stocks  lie  within  the  Pacific  region,  six  on  the  banks  of  the 
Klamath  River  alone. 

The  Amerind  languages,  with  the  exception  of  the  Maya  and 
possibly  one  or  two  others,  are  polysynthetic,  and  no  other  lan 
guages  of  the  world  have  exactly  this  construction,  though,  as  has 
previously  been  stated,  that  of  the  Basques  has  a  construction 
somewhat  similar.  By  polysynthetic  is  meant  a  language  that 
permits  the  incorporation  of  a  great  many  words  in  one  sentence, 
till  all  are  fused  into  one  "  bunch-word  "  of  from  ten  to  fifteen 
or  more  syllables.  Examples  are  often  quoted  from  Eskimo  ' 
which  in  our  eyes  appear  ridiculous  in  their  cumbersome  length, 
but  they  are  as  intelligible  and  valuable  to  the  Eskimo  as  our 
words  are  to  us.  While  the  Basque  more  nearly  resembles  the 
Amerind  languages  than  does  any  other  Old  World  tongue,  it 
stops  short  of  the  incorporating  power  of  that  of  the  Amerinds. 
In  Basque  this  is  restricted  to  the  verb  and  some  pronominal 
elements,  but  in  the  Amerind  it  embraces  all  parts  of  speech. 
It  is  specially  interesting  to  note  also  that  Basque  in  the  Old 
World  is  an  isolated  language,  the  only  one  there  of  its  kind. 
The  Amerinds  who  look  alike  are  not  always  the  ones  who  speak 
the  same  language.  Quite  different-looking  Amerinds  will  some 
times  speak  the  same  tongue,  while  others  who  look  the  same  will 
speak  different  ones.  The  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona, 
while  apparently  of  one  race,  speak  several  different  stock  lan 
guages,  while  some  of  the  natives  of  Labrador,  who  are  of  appar 
ently  different  stocks,  speak  dialects  of  one  language.  Nor,  as  has 
been  mentioned,  is  the  area  occupied  by  one  stock  always  con 
tinuous.2  The  Athapascan,  next  to  the  Eskimo,  is  the  most 
northerly  stock,  yet  three  small  branches  are  found  south,  on  the 
Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States,  while  two  large  branches,  the 
Navajos  and  the  Apaches,  extend  through  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  the  latter  far  into  the  country  of  Mexico  proper.  In  the 

1  This  word  was  popularly  written  Esquimaux,  after  the  French.     Then 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  wrote  it  Eskimo,  and  this  has  been  the  accepted 
spelling  and  pronunciation.     But  it  is  from  the  Abnaki  dialect  of  Algonquin, 
according  to  Brinton  ( The  American  Race,  p.  59),  and  is  properly  Eski- 
mwhan.     This  is  better  represented  by  Eskima  than  by  Eskimo. 

2  See  the  list  of  stocks  in  the  Appendix. 


Languages  and  Dialects 


33 


same  way  the  Siouan  1  lies  in  the  middle  region  of  the  United 
States,  but  a  small  band  still  lingered,  at  the  beginning  of  the 


AMERIND    LINGUISTIC    MAP    OF    NORTH    AMERICA,    AFTER   THE    ONE    PREPARED   BY 
THE    U.    S.    BUREAU    OF    ETHNOLOGY 

Columbian  era,  on  the  Gulf  coast  in  Mexico,  and  another  smaller 
band  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  having  for  a  near  neighbour  still 
1  "Their  language  was  reduced  to  writing  some  sixty  years  ago  and  has 
now  a  considerable  literature.  Nearly  all  the  men  of  the  tribe  are  able  to 
conduct  personal  correspondence  in  their  own  language." — Mooney,  Ameri 
can  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  i.,  No.  i,  p.  137,  1899. 


34  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

another,  which  spread  itself  over  three  States.  These  detached 
bands  indicate  great  movements  on  the  part  of  the  various  stocks. 
One  Amerind  language,  the  Eskimo,  has  been  traced  across  Bering 
Strait  into  Asia,  but  thus  far  no  language  has  been  traced  from 
Asia  into  America.  When  the  Asiatic  and  North-west  Coast  in 
vestigations  instituted  by  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  His 
tory,  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Jesup,  are  completed,  something- 
more  definite  will  be  known  on  the  subject  of  possible  affinities. 
In  addition  to  the  great  difference  in  their  formation,  some  of  the 
Amerind  languages  do  not  possess  sounds  common  to  European 
languages,  and  on  the  other  hand  they  sometimes  have  sounds 
rarely  heard  elsewhere.  The  Pai  Utes  have  no  "  f,"  and  when 
they  try  to  pronounce  ' '  fire  "  they  can  only  say  "  piah."  The  Moki 
cannot  say  "  s"  before  "  k"  or  hard  "  c."  In  trying  to  pro 
nounce  "  school  "  they  say  "  cool."  There  is  no  "  r  "  in  Huron, 
Mexican,  Otomi,  and  some  other  languages,  and  several  have  no 
"  i."  The  Iroquois  have  no  labials,  and  do  not  articulate  with 
their  lips.  Cherokee  has  the  same  peculiarity,  as  it  is  an  Iroquoian 
language.  The  Karankawa  contains  sounds  rarely  heard  in  Euro 
pean  languages,  while  other  sounds  common  to  the  latter  are  absent 
altogether  from  the  Karankawa,  so  that  in  this  language  is  found 
not  only  a  complete  difference  from  European  tongues  in  gram- 
matic  structure  and  lexical  elements,  but  a  complete  difference  in 
phonetics  as  well,  and  in  the  last  respect  it  differs  also  from  other 
Amerind  languages.  Altogether  the  Karankawa  shows  many 
peculiarities,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  the  authentic  material  re 
lating  to  it  is  so  limited.  In  the  Navajo  there  is  a  common  com 
bination  of  "  tl  "  with  a  peculiar  explosive  click.1  The  tongue  is 
placed  with  the  tip  against  the  roof  of  the  mouth  and  pressure  as 
for  "  t  "  made  against  it,  the  "  1  "  sound  immediately  following  by 
an  explosion  at  the  side.  It  is  a  peculiar  sound,  and  the  Navajo 
language  is  filled  with  it.2 

In  recording  these  Amerind  languages  and  their  peculiar 
sounds,  no  definite  system  was  employed  till  recently.  Travellers 
wrote  the  Amerind  words  down  with  ordinary  letters  as  they 
understood  them,  thus  producing  great  diversity  in  method  and 
results.  Differences  are  due  sometimes  to  a  lack  of  perception  on 

1  The  "  1 "  like  "  cl  "  in  "  exclaim." 

2  See  also  Payne's  History  of  the  New  World,  vol.  ii.,  p.  96  et  seq.,  for  an 
excellent  discussion  of  Amerind  languages. 


'<£**/*•£?£?<&*•£&&&•  \ 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


FAC-SIMILE    OF   A  CHEROKEE    MANUSCRIPT 
Written  in  Sequoyah's  Syllabary.     See  cut  on  page  52. 


35 


36  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  part  of  the  recorder,  and  also  sometimes  to  a  difference  in  pro 
nunciation  on  the  part  of  the  Amerinds  themselves,  and  again  to 
differences  of  methods  of  recording.  To  catch  the  exact  sounds 
of  a  new  language  requires  a  musical  ear.  I  do  not  mean  a 
knowledge  of  music,  but  an  ear  that  follows  a  tune  easily. 
Without  such  an  ear  a  person  is  riot  fit  to  record  language  sounds 
that  are  novel  no  matter  how  good  a  linguist  he  may  be.  Investi 
gators  ought  to  have  their  ears  tested  for  sound-perception  as  the 
eyes  of  locomotive  engineers  are  tested  for  colour. 

Recognising  the  importance  of  a  system  in  the  recording  of  the 
Amerind  languages  —  the  importance  of  systematising  the  ortho 
graphy  of  these  languages  —  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
published  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Indian  Languages,  in 
which  an  alphabet  was  advocated  that  was  adapted  to  recording 
harmoniously  the  Amerind  languages.  In  this  over  sixty  separate 
sounds  are  given  by  signs  following  as  closely  as  possible  our  own 
alphabet.  This  is  complicated  and  many  investigators  use  their 
own  systems  and  translate  afterwards  into  the  more  general  one. 
The  great  difference  in  the  Amerind  sounds  necessitates  many 
different  characters  and  inverted  letters  standing  for  peculiar 
sounds. 

Of  all  the  Amerind  languages  of  North  America,  that  of  the 
Eskimo  is  probably  the  most  homogeneous.  Its  dialects  are  alike 
from  one  side  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  following  similarity  in 
other  respects.  Ball  states  there  is  a  saying  "  that  a  man  under 
standing  thoroughly  the  dialect  of  either  extreme,  could  pass  from 
village  to  village,  from  Greenland  to  Labrador,  from  Labrador  to 
Bering  Strait,  and  thence  southward  to  the  Copper  River,  staying 
five  days  in  each  halting  place,  and  that  in  all  that  journey  he 
would  encounter  no  greater  differences  of  speech  and  customs  than 
he  could  master  in  the  few  days  devoted  to  each  settlement.  Prob 
ably  there  is  no  other  race  in  the  world  distributed  over  an  equal 
territory,  which  exhibits  such  solidarity."  They  do  not  take  to 
new  languages.  Though  the  Eskimo  of  Alaska  have  had  long 
intercourse  with  English-speaking  men,  their  English  is 
limited.  Like  most  of  the  Amerinds,  they  prefer  to  invent 
own  terms  for  articles  that  are  new  to  them.  The  Aleutian 
Islanders  are  of  Eskimo  stock,  but  their  language  is  different  from 
the  main  body  of  the  family,  and  would  not  be  understood  by  them. 

The  writings  of  the  Cherokees  in  the  syllabary  of  Sequoyah 


Languages  and   Dialects 


37 


are  of  sacred  formulas.  These  were  written  out  by  the  shamans 
and  are  thoroughly  Amerind.  '  They  are  not  disjointed  frag 
ments,"  says  Mooney,  who  made  a  careful  study  of  the  subject, 
' '  of  a  system  long  since  extinct,  but  are  the  revelation  of  a  living 
faith  which  still  has  its  priests  and  devoted  adherents."  The 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PETROGLYPHS    NEAR    WRANGELL,    ALASKA,    PROBABLY   TLTNKIT 

language  used  is  full  of  archaic  forms  and  figurative  expressions, 
some  of  which  even  the  shamans  cannot  now  understand.  Some 
of  these  are  highly  poetical,  especially  the  prayers  "  used  to  win 
the  love  of  a  woman  or  to  destroy  the  life  of  an  enemy,  in  which 
we  find  such  expressions  as  :  '  Now  your  soul  fades  away  —  your 
spirit  shall  grow  less  and  dwindle  away  never  to  reappear.'  *  Let 
her  be  completely  veiled  in  loneliness, — O  Black  Spider,  may 
you  hold  her  soul  in  your  web,  so  that  it  may  never  get  through 
the  meshes  ! '  '  Your  soul  has  come  into  the  very  centre  of  my 
soul,  never  to  turn  away.'  "  l 

In  nearly  all  the  Amerind  languages  there  was  a  poetical  touch. 
But  what  seems  to  be  poetry  to  us  arose  partly  from  the  inability 
of  the  Amerind  to  express  himself  in  a  spiritual  way.  As  his 

1  "  Cherokee  Formulas,"  Mooney,  Seventh  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


.18 


The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


religion  was  chiefly  zootheistic,  and  the  heavenly  bodies  and  nat 
ural  forces  were  personified  as  animals,  his  comparisons  and  refer 
ences  were  not  intended  for  metaphor,  but  were  merely  the 
ordinary  workings  of  his  mind  on  the  material  at  his  command, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


HUMAN    FORMS,    MOKI 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


OMAHA    WAR    CLUB 


CHAPTER  III 


PICTURE- WRITING  —  SIGN-LANGUAGE  —  WAMPUM  —  CUPPED- 

STONES ' 

OUR  pre- Columbian  knowledge  of  the  Amerind  people  is  at 
present  meagre.  The  majority  of  the  different  stocks  had 
not  arrived  at  the  point  where  they  understood  how  to 
record  their  thoughts  and  their  doings.  Outside  of  the  Maya  and 
Nahuatl  stocks,  and  others  in  that  region,  there  is  nothing  but 
rude  picture-writing  to  refer  to  besides  an  abundance  of  traditions, 
legends,  and  other  oral  matter.  All  the  Amerind  languages  are 
capable  of  being  readily  written,  being  possessed  of  grammars  and 
of  copious  vocabularies,  but  none  of  the  tribes  north  of  Mexico  had 
made  the  discovery  that  marks  can  represent  sounds.  We  trace 
our  alphabet  back  to  the  Romans,  still  farther  to  the  Greeks,  and 
yet  farther  back  to  the  Phoenicians,  and  then  another  stage  back 
to  even  ruder  characters  connecting  the  chain  of  its  development 
with  the  end  links  of  such  writing  as  that  of  the  Mayas,  and  ex 
hibiting  writing  in  all  stages,  from  rock  scratching  or  picture- 
writing,  through  all  phases  down  to  the  work  of  the  writing  and 
printing  machines  of  to-day. 

Mankind  are  all  alike,  merely  exhibiting  different  degrees  of 
culture.  As  the  rills  in  the  mountains  born  of  the  rains  and  the 
snows  are  all  the  same  and  reach  the  ocean  by  various  devious  and 

1  For  a  complete  presentation  of  the  subject  of  sign-language,  see  paper 
by  Garrick  Mallery,  First  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  and  for  that  of  picture- 
writing  see  Tenth'  Ann.  Rept.,  a  paper  by  same  author,  and  one  in  Fourth 
Ann.  Rept. 

39 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


complicated  courses,  so  the  races  of  men,  emerging  from  the  dark 
ness  of  the  past,  follow,  because  of  the  immutability  of  natural  law, 
practically  the  same  lines  of  development  through  savagery,  bar 
barism,  civilisation,  toward  a  common  goal  of  unification  and 
enlightenment.  The  progress  of  humanity  from  earliest  times  to 
now  appears  to  be  divided,  in  each  race  evolution,  into  several 


U.S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PAINTED    PETROGLYPHS,    SANTA    BARBARA  COUNTY,    CALIFORNIA 

epochs  by  certain  great  inventions  or  discoveries  which  seemed  to 
spread  themselves  over  the  world  either  from  one  centre  or  from 
several.  Of  these  the  most  important  are,  first,  fire;  second,  the 
bow  ;  third,  smelting  ;  fourth,  phonetic  writing  ;  and  fifth,  print 
ing.  This  progression  is  not  even,  but  a  people  may  stand  still 
for  a  long  time  and  then  suddenly  become  active  in  one  particular 
line,  or  in  many  lines.1  Ours  is  the  age  of  mechanical  develop 
ment  ;  the  Greeks  made  a  stride  in  art.  When  development 
reaches  a  certain  point  and  conditions  are  favourable  for  an  in 
vention,  it  springs  into  being  not  in  one  individual  alone  but 
usually  in  several  widely  separated  ones,  as  if  the  seed  of  it  had 

1  Note  in  Preface  and  last  chapter  statement  as  to  irregularity  of  culture 
progress. 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum     41 

been  sprinkled  over  the  earth.  It  may  have  germinated  before 
when  conditions  were  not  ripe,  but  it  then  died  before  even  sprout 
ing.  Environment  cultivates  the  mind,  and  the  mind  feeds  on 
environment.  Only  a  small  portion  of  those  to  whom  an  idea 
occurs  endeavour  to  carry  it  out,  and  often  other  subsequent 
inventions  are  necessary  to  success. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PETROGLYPHS    IN    BROWN  S    CAVE,    WISCONSIN 


On  the  Amerind  continent  before  the  advent  of  the  European 
the  various  stocks  and  tribes  were  rising  and  falling  under  the 
influence  of  the  moulding  conditions,  and  rising  again  or  giving 
place  to  more  highly  vitalised  stock  which  might  succeed  in 
fertilising  in  the  brain  of  a  Hiawatha  or  a  Quetzalcohuatl  great 
ideas  that  should  lift  them  onward. 

In  the  matter  of  writing,  these  races  were  moving  toward  suc 
cess,  and  had  their  isolation  been  maintained  they  would  in  time 
have  come  to  the  full  measure.  As  it  was,  the  Mayas  1  had  reached 
a  considerable  degree  of  efficiency,  and  the  Aztecs  were  following 
close.  The  more  northern  stocks,  however,  had  not  passed  beyond 
the  elementary  stage.  In  the  sense  in  which  artists  now  use  the 
word  "  drawing,"  it  hardly  existed  anywhere  on  this  continent  ; 
that  is,  there  was  little  exactness  and  delicacy  of  delineation,  but 

'  The  Mayas,  however,  had  passed  the  zenith  of  their  development. 


42  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

it  was  mainly  an  offhand  representation  of  objects  in  a  barbaric 
fashion.  There  was  considerable  merit  in  some  of  the  work 
executed  by  the  sculptors,  but  it  was  nevertheless  as  a  whole 
aboriginal  and  primitive.  In  the  middle  region  the  drawings  and 
rock  peckings '  have  no  artistic  merit  whatever,  and  are  like  the 
work  of  little  children  ;  nor  are  the  Eskimo  efforts  much  better. 
The  Eastern  States  do  not  afford  the  same  abundance  of  characters 
pecked  and  scratched,  and  sometimes  painted  on  the  rocks,  that 
exists  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  and  particularly  in  the 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PAINTED    PETROGLYPHS,    SOUTHERN    UTAH 

South-west,  where  they  are  found  everywhere.2  This  may  be 
due  to  the  more  verdant  nature  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  country, 
and  also  to  the  fact  that  the  broad,  smooth  surfaces  of  sandstone 
exposed  so  universally  in  the  South-west  are  generally  absent  in 
the  East.  Another  reason  may  be  that  the  Amerinds  of  the  vari- 

1  "  Etching  "  is  the  word  commonly  used,  but  as  etching  is  a  totally  dif 
ferent  thing  it  has  no  place  in  this  connection,  and  only  adds  to  the  incon 
gruities  already  existing  in  writings  on  the  Amerind  subject. 

2  Painted  characters  are  found  in  southern   California,  west  and  south 
west   of  Sierra   Nevada  ;  painted  and  scratched,    from  Colorado  River  to 
Georgia,  north  to  West  Virginia  and  along  the  Mississippi.    Remaining  parts 
of  United  States  show  rock  scratchings  almost  exclusive  of  paintings,  ac 
cording  to  Mallery. 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      43 

OLIS  Pueblo  stocks  and  allied  tribes  were  more  given  to  inscribing 
the  rocks  in  this  manner.  Certain  it  is  that  wherever  evidences 
exist  of  the  former  occupation  of  a  locality  by  Amerinds  of  the 
Pueblo  kind,  there  rocks  will  be  found  covered  with  markings  and 
paintings.  These  people  went  everywhere  in  their  region,  and 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PETROGLYPH    AT    MILLSBORO,    PENNSYLVANIA 


they  generally  left  some  record  on  the  rocks,  as  they  do  to-day. 
If  one  thinks  he  has  found  a  place  where  they  did  not  arrive  in 
that  vast  land  of  cliffs  and  canyons,  he  is  sure  soon  to  be  un 
deceived.  Once  I  reached  a  little  platform  on  the  face  of  a  cliff  in 
Arizona  by  hard  scrambling,  part  of  the  way  through  a  narrow 
crevice,  and  as  I  stood  viewing  the  valley  a  thousand  feet  below, 


44 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


I  thought,  "  Now,  at  last,  I  am  on  a  spot  where  the  Shinumo  1 
never  stood."  As  I  turned  to  make  my  way  down  again  I  was 
confronted  by  a  lot  of  pictographs  spread  across  the  whole  of 
the  smooth  wall  behind.  Thus  it  was  almost  everywhere  :  in  the 
deep  gorges  of  the  Colorado  River,  in  its  side  canyons,  in  the 
cliffs  above  and  around,  and  all  along  Green  River,  at  least 
as  far  north  as  the  lower  end  of  Split-Mountain  canyon,  these 

pictures  occur. 
The  climate  is 
dry,  and  there 
is  little  change 
from  one  cent 
ury  '  s  end  to 
another.2  Some 
are  comparative 
ly  recent,  while 
others,  even 
some  of  the 
painted  ones,  are 
old  ;  how  old  it 
is  impossible  to 
estimate,  but 
many  of  them 
are  found  in  re 
gions  where  no 
Amerinds  of  the 

Pueblo  type  3  have  lived  within  historical  times,  or  within  the 
memory  of  those  Amerinds  who  now  occupy  the  region.  Some 
of  the  painted  figures  in  sheltered  places  appeared  fresh,  but  they 
must  have  been  at  least  a  century  or  two  old.  The  other  Amer 
inds,  while  they  also  executed  picture-writings  of  various  kinds, 
did  not  so  often  decorate  rock  surfaces  with  them.  They  were 
more  inclined  to  drawing  and  painting  on  buffalo  robes  and  other 
1  The  name  applied  by  the  Pai  Utes  to  the  old  Puebloans. 
IJ  That  is,  the  rock  faces  change  slowly.  Other  changes  may  occur,  as, 
for  instance,  the  foothold  from  which  the  pictures  were  made.  I  remember 
seeing  in  Ream's  Canyon,  Arizona,  some  pictographs  on  a  cliff  wall  that  were 
far  above  reach,  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  my  head.  My  explanation  was  that 
the  ground  had  been  washed  away  after  they  were  made. 

3 1  say   "type,"   because  the  Pueblo  culture  was  not  confined  to  one 
stock.     "  Puebloan  "  may  be  used  to  designate  them. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


FETROGLYPHS    IN    GEORGIA 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      45 


skins,  on  bark,  on  trees,  shell,  pottery  ;  even  the  human  form  in 
some  regions  not  being  exempt.  The  Puebloans,  while  utilising 
most  of  these  methods,  also  used  the  rocks  a  great  deal,  the  coun 
try  they  occupied  abounding  in  broad,  smooth  faces  attractive  for 
this  purpose.  In  the  settled  East  the  perishable  substances  have 
long  ago  disappeared,  except  those 
fortunately  preserved  in  museums 
or  private  collections.  Compara 
tively  few  rock  inscriptions  are 
found  there,  and  these  have  created 
considerable  discussion  and  the 
usual  number  of  theories.  The 
markings,  undoubtedly  Algonquian, 
on  the  now  widely  known  Dighton 
Rock  in  Massachusetts  were  for  a 
long  time  ascribed  to  the  Northmen, 
and  were  copied  in  a  great  many 
different  ways.1  The  trouble  arose 
from  the  same  reason  that  has  led 
to  so  many  mistaken  theories  re 
garding  the  Amerind  race  —  that  is, 
an  underestimate  of  their  intellect 
ual  side,  so  far  as  those  north  of  Mexico  are  concerned,  and  an 


RUNIC      INSCRIPTION      ON       STONE 
FOUND  AT  IGALIKKO,  GREENLAND, 

Introduced  here  to  show  contrast  to  the 

Amerind  writings  or  pictographs. 
Translation  :     "  Vigdis,  Mars'  daughter, 
rests  here.     May  God  gladden  her  soul." 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


DIGHTON    ROCK,    MASSACHUSETTS 


overestimate  of  those  in  the  latter  region.     Brinton  asserts  that 

1  A  rock  near  Yarmouth,  Nova  Scotia,  is  inscribed  with  characters  supposed 
to  be  Runic,  which  have  been  translated  by  Phillips,  "  Harkussenmen  varu  " 
=  "  Harko's  son  addressed  the  men."  The  Dighton  inscription  was  read  as 
an  account  of  the  party  of  Thorfinn,  while  other  interpreters  have  made  out 
Scythian  and  Phoenician  characters.  It  is  possible  that  there  may  have  been 
a  few  Runic  characters  mingled  with  the  Algonquian  on  the  Dighton  Rock. 


i.     Sayewitalli  wemiguma  wokgetaki.— At  first,  in  that 
place,  at  all  times,  above  the  earth. 


2.  Hackung  kwelik  owanaku  wak  yutali  kitanitowit 
essop. — On  the  earth  (was)  an  extended  fog,  and 
there  the  great  Manito  was. 


3.  Sayewis  hallemiwis  nolemiwi  elemamik,  kitanitowit- 
essop. — At  first,  forever,  lost  in  space,  everywhere, 
the  great  Manito  was. 


4.     Sohalawak   kwelik    hakik   owak    awasagamak. —  He 
made  the  extended  land  and  the  sky. 


5.     Sohalawak   gishuk   nipahum    alankwak. — He    made 
the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars. 


6.     Wemi-sohalawak  yulik  yuchaan. — He  made  them  all 
to  move  evenly. 


Wich-owagan  kshakan  moshakwat  kwelik  kshipe 
helep.— Then  the  wind  blew  violently,  and  it 
cleared,  and  the  water  flowed  off  far  and  strong. 


Opeleken    mani-menak   delsin-epit. — And  groups  of 
islands  grew  newly,  and  there  remained. 


10 


io.  —  Owiniwak  angelatawiwak  chichankwak  wemiwak. — 
To  beings,  mortals,  souls  and  all  (spoke  the 
Manito). 


ILLUSTRATION    OF    THE    "  WALAM    OLUM  "    OF    THE    LENAPE,    FROM    BRINTOX 

There  are  sixty  of  these  figures  painted  on  the  sticks.  Each  one  recalls  to 
the  memory  of  those  who  have  become  acquainted  with  the  associated  idea,  that 
special  idea,  and  as  an  example  nine  of  the  signs  are  given  here  in  connection  with 
the  associated  idea,  and  also  with  the  translation  into  English. 

There  is  seen  here  at  once  the  resemblance  to  Genesis,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  this  portion  of  the  Walam  Olum  was  not  inspired  by  the  teachings  of 
the  missionaries.  But  Brinton  says:  "  This  similarity  is  due  wholly  to  the  identity 
of 
in 


psychological  action,  the  same  ideas  and  fancies  arising  from  similar  impressions 
New  as  well  as  Old  World  tribes." 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum       47 


the  Algonquins  had  developed  the  picture-  writing  farther  than  any 
other  stock  north  of  the  Aztecs.     ' '  It  had  passed, ' '  he  says,  ' '  from  the 
representative  to  the  symbolic  stage,  and  was  extensively  employed 
to  preserve  the  national  history  and  rites  of  the  secret  societies.  The 
figures  were  scratched  or  painted  on  pieces  of  bark  or  slabs  of  wood, 
and  as  the  colour  of  the  paint  was  red,  these  were  sometimes  called 
"  red  sticks. '  '      Some  of  these  slabs,  or  ' '  red  sticks, ' '  like  the  Wal 
am  Olum  (walam 
=  painted,     and 
olum  =  scores  or 
notches   on  a 
stick)  ofthel^en- 
apes,1  have  been 
preserved.  Many 
of  the  figures  ex 
ecuted   by    the 
Amerinds,    not 
excepting  the 
Aztecs    and    the 
Mayas,  were 
grotesque,    and 
even     childish. 
Their  strange 
ness  is  irequent-    KATCINAS  IN  THE  SOMAIKOLI  CEREMONY,  CICHUMOVI,  ARI- 
ly    due    to    our  ZONA,  NOVEMBER,  1884 

unfamiliarity 
with  the  origin 
als,  figures  writh  queer  hair-dressing,  masks,  or  complete  ceremonial 
costume,  which,  if  we  could  see  them  to-day,  would  resemble 
nothing  we  had  ever  imagined  or  viewed  before.  The  extraordinary 
make-up  of  these  people  for  their  ceremonials  is  beyond  anything 
our  race  can  imagine.  Those  who  have  witnessed  Pueblo  cere 
monials  will  understand  how  unlike  any  human  being  the  wearer  of 
the  strange  costumes  can  become.  The  katcina 2  is  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,  and,  especially  if  represented  with  the  half-skill 

1  For  a  full  account  of  the  Walam  Olum,  see  Brinton's  "The  Lenape"  and 
their  Legends, "  in  vol.  v.  of  his  Library  of  American  Aboriginal  History. 

2  The  pronunciation  of  this  word  always  sounded  to  me  "  kat-chee'-nah," 
but  Dr.  Fewkes  eliminates  the  "h  "  sound  from  this  and  other  words,  and 
as  he  has  devoted  much  attention  to  the  subject  I  follow  his  spelling. 


Photograph  by  the  author 


48 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


of  the  Amerind,  would  baffle  classification  by  anyone  not  familiar 
with  the  actual  object.  Among  the  early  tribes  there  were  un 
doubtedly  many  of  these  ceremonial  dresses  and  costumes  that  we 
can  now  have  no  conception  of,  and  where  we  see  them  represented 
in  sculpture  or  drawing  they  have  a  most  uncanny  and  diabolical 
appearance.  Even  to-day  were  we  to  see  a  representation  in  their 
crude  way  of  a  simple  little  Moki  girl,  with  the  singular  arrange 
ment  of  her  hair  in  flat,  circular  puffs,  like  huge  wheels,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  head,  and  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  this  fashion 
of  hair-dressing,  we  should  be  puzzled  as  to  what  it  meant. 

Some  of  the  ordinary  rock  pictures  may  have  been  carved  for 
simple  amusement,  but  the  majority  were  made  with  a  purpose, 
and  this  was  usually  the  communication  or  record  of  an  idea. 
The  Amerind  records  may  be  divided  into  two  and  perhaps  three 

general  classes  : 
first,  the  mnem 
onic  ;  second, 
the  ideographic; 
and,  third,  the 
phonetic.  Brin- 
ton  suggests  for 
the  writings  of 
the  Aztecs, 
which  were 
partly  ideogra 
phic  and  partly 
phonetic,  the 
term  ikonomatic, l 
and  used  it  in  his 
own  works.  The 
ideographic  class 
are  those  which 

represent  an  idea,  as  a  man  striking  another,  like  the  accompany 
ing  illustration  from  the  autobiography  of  Running  Antelope, 
who  thus  records  his  killing  of  two  Arikarees.  The  mnemonic 
class  do  not  represent  an  idea,  but  simply  are  memory  helps, 
like  a  string  tied  around  one's  finger,  a  good  example  being 
any  numeral,  say  the  figure  ''9."  The  phonetic  class  represent 
sounds,  like  the  letters  of  our  alphabet,  say  the  letter  "  e."  It 
1  See  Brinton,  .Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  213. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


KILLED    TWO    ARIKAREES 


UNIVERSITY 

Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  — -^  Wampu 


CALII 


in     49 


is  believed  that  the  Maya  writings  were  largely  phonetic,  but  the 
phonetic  quality  is  not  well  established. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  mnemonic  symbols  originated  in  sign- 
language.  One  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  univer 
sality  of  the  sign-language  is  the  case,  cited  by  Mallery,  of  a 
professor  in  a  deaf-mute  college,  who,  visiting  several  wild  tribes, 
was  able  to  communicate  freely  with  them  though  he  knew 
nothing  of  their  spoken  languages.  It  was  a  natural  thing  that 
races  should  attempt  to  record  these  signs,  and  some  early 
hieroglyphs  in  Egyptian  can  clearly  be  traced  to  them.  These 
same  efforts  occurred  amongst  the  Amerind  stocks  in  varying 
degree.  Picture-writing,  the  world  over,  as  well  as  particularly 
in  North  America,  probably  grew 
out  of  sign-language,  giving,  as  the 
first  stage  in  the  development,  sign- 
language,  second  pictographs,  third 
alphabet.  These  merge  into  each 
other,  as  there  was  not  a  series  of 
jumps,  but  a  slow  and  gradual  pro 
gression.  Many  pictographs  are 
merely  representations  of  natural 
objects  and  had  no  special  signifi 
cance,  others  were  guide  marks  to 
springs,  others  recorded  visits  to 
certain  localities.  Mallery  states  a 
particularly  interesting  fact,  that 
within  "  each  particular  system  . 
precisely  the  same  manner. ' '  Therefore,  if  a  perfect  understanding 
of  each  tribal  system  is  obtained,  the  various  rock  markings  and 
other  pictographs  can  be  classified.  Sometimes  frauds  '  have  been 
attempted  by  white  men,  one  well-known  case  being  where  an 
Illinois  blacksmith  copied  on  six  copper  plates  designs  from  a 
Chinese  tea-box,  and  then  claimed  that  the  plates  had  been  found 
in  a  mound.  Recently  a  most  ingenious  counterfeiter  of  stone 
implements  was  discovered  in  Dane  County,  Wis.  He  had  been 
selling  the  spurious  implements  for  years.  They  are  usually  of 
bizarre  patterns.2  Bandelier  says  that  "  it  is  certain  that  some  of 

1  At  Newark,  Ohio,  a  business  was  carried  on  in  the  manufacture  of 
inscribed  stones,  buried  and  dug  up  to  suit  occasion. 

2  See  "A  Remarkable  Counterfeiter"  by  A.  K.  Jenks,  American  An 
thropologist,  April-June,  1900. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PETROGLYPHS  ON  PAINT  ROCK, 
NORTH  CAROLINA 

every  Indian  draws  in 


50  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

them  [pictographs  in  Mexico]  were  manufactured  after  the  Con 
quest,  not  with  the  intention  of  fraud,  but  with  a  view  to  a  com 
promise  between  the  new  method  of  recording  and  the  old  one, 
which  the  new  teachers  were  loath  to  comprehend  and  which  they 
refused  to  adopt. ' '  Powell  classifies  all  the  picture-writings  as  : 
(i)  Mnemonic  —  songs,  traditions,  treaties,  war,  and  time;  (2) 
Notification  —  departure,  direction,  condition,  warning,  guidance, 
geographic  features,  claim  or  demand  messages,  and  communica 
tions  and  record 
of  expeditions  ; 
(3)  Totemic- 
tribal,  gentile, 
clan,  and  per 
sonal  designa 
tions,  insignia, 
tokens  of  au 
thority,  personal 
names,  property 
.  marks,  status  of 
individuals, 
signs  of  partic 
ular  achieve 
ments  ;  (4)  Re 
ligious —  mythic 

person  ages, 

LANDA'S  MAYA  ALPHABET  AFTER  BRASSEUR  0  -u  «  *n  n  « 

slid  in  a  n  i  s  m  , 

from  Bancroft  s  Native  Races 

dances,  cere 
monies,  mortuary  practices,  grave-posts,  charms,  fetiches  ;  (5) 
Customs,  habits  ;  (6)  Tribal  history  ;  (7)  Biographic. 

On  this  continent  no  true  alphabet,  so  far  as  now  known,  was 
produced,  unless  we  accept  that  recorded  by  Bishop  Landa,  and 
ascribed  to  the  Mayas.  Landa  was  the  second  bishop  of  Yucatan, 
and  he  did  his  best  to  destroy  the  Maya  records  and  everything 
else  that  in  his  estimation  linked  them  with  the  devil.  But  he 
did  construct  an  alphabet  after  theirs,  for  the  purpose,  no  doubt, 
of  putting  before  them  the  Holy  Gospel,  and  it  is  this  alphabet 
that  has  been  preserved.  It  has  been  the  basis  of  many  vain  at 
tempts  to  decipher  the  few  ancient  Maya  documents  that  are 
known,  and  the  failure  of  these  attempts  has  caused  some  investi 
gators  to  consider  the  alphabet  a  pure  fabrication,  but  the  identity 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      5 1 

of  the  characters  with  many  of  those  in  the  ancient  writing  com 
pletely  disproves  this  charge.  Besides  the  alphabet,  Landa  left 
some  other  information  concerning  the  Mayas,  and  Goodman  thus 
presents  his  respects  to  his  memory  '  :  "  It  is  a  signal  instance  of 


* 


nnshlnen       W..j..k  cbln  Irhlptix.k 

Our  Father  in  heaven  rcatcil  nisy 


etfc:'     I        llr 


W;ij»k          tfteliilanen  tehlptAok        I?nomwi<>k  uK 

lie  respected      in  heaven         to  us  uiajr  graal    .  tbca 


.nomulek  ulc.K-chinen.      Natd         waji.lc  <lrli  c)ikc,I..o)«c 

to  see  in  staying.      Tlicro      In  li«a\on  :•»          lU^u  ait  obeyed 


!     { 

k  deli 
«o 

—  c^c<     2 


tchiptook  deli  cbke<lnlek  nmtlmigiic-k  ctmek 

m:4  «o  be  obeyed  on  earth  wUi-re  we  are 


rip    k<l    nl^knm  »bikchifct«in         tlwciillirk 

•who  bare  offco'Icd  oi   <•<>    Iliou   O  God  fur,-ivo  ourtmtt* 


r     Jis  ihou  hast  given  >t  to  us 


ik'Ianwwktccn          jwn,«min.>n«in      nih'i 
giro  it  •    uiir  nouriUiiuent       tu 

£6  tj.i'j?  A  2 

nametnik      rip    k<l    n 
offco'Icd  oi   <•<>    Iliou 

H 

fntlkfninrprt  winncUudii  mn  k^rs*!'"™       lc«?ii.uk*mk.l 

bol.|ns»tronS         bythcbnn.l  n«.t  (•»  WI  ke.i.fir  fruin  as 

*«^ft    311   £?/?     2-^ 

wlnadagnel  twtktwia.  KMclUtch. 

•uffcrlogB  cviU  Amen. 

U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

FAC-SIMILE    OF    THE    LORD'S    PRAYER    IN    MICMAC    HIEROGLYPHS 
From  Le  Clercq 

the  irony  of  fate  that  this  bigoted  destroyer  of  the  fruits  of  Maya 
science  and  art  —  the  pietist  whose  zeal  rendered  him  avid  of  the 
obliteration  of  every  vestige  of  their  impious  learning  —  should 
have  been  the  only  one  to  leave  a  clue  by  which  the  mysterious 
codices  and  inscriptions  will  yet  be  deciphered.  Nevertheless  he 

*J.  T.  Goodman,  Biologia  Centrali  Americana,  part  ix.,  p.  n. 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


left  such  a  clue — slight  and  vague,  it  is  true  ;  but,  when  carefully 
followed  up,  it  broadens  and  leads  into  an  open  way  where  every 
thing  will  presently  become  self-evident."  The  alphabet  was 


D* 


^   ma. 


\Xhna,      VP/ 


R 


A 


A. 


TV 


Il 

V« 
l> 

o  1      *  1 

C, 
Ir 
0, 


A. 
K 

C, 

Z. 
•V 

W    ^20 

*. 

A, 
<». 
K. 


O. 
IL 


to. 

K 


«. 
c; 


din, 


Cl 


<r. 
p. 


6 „» 
II 


Sounds  represented  "by  vowels. 

rt.  «j   rt  in  father  cr  shirt  as  a  -in  n't  al     I  o  as  aw  in  iinr  or  shcrtas  o  in  -net 
c  iis   a.  in   finte    or  shcrt  as  e  in  -me(         \  it   as  flo  in  JPP!  cr  slwrt  aj  u  in  pull 
i  fit    i  in  pjqueorslicrtasiinpit  I  r   as  u,   in   tnif,  nasaiifed^ 

CoBson.-uit  Sounds. 

y  nearly  as  in  English,  but  apprcacTtiny  tak  .d  warty- as  in  fnfflirh.  tat apprcacning  fy-f..\k.l m.n.  q. s.  I vv.atm  £nglish. 
S'UutU-s  Iryinnwy  nithy.  accepts  Ttarc  sometimes  ffie  power  cf  k,  AS  r;  arc  scrntturus  scurried  -to,  tu,  tr;  an*  JffffaKef  »ntten  vithlt. 
eift-pt  C.  smctdnes  -vay  to  M 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


SEQUOYAH'S  CHEROKEE  SYLLABARY 


probably  modified  by  a  desire  to  make  it  conform  to  the  Spanish, 
and  it  is  this  foreign  element  possibly  that  has  led  to  the  unfavour 
able  opinion  expressed  in  some  quarters  concerning  it. 

North  of  the  Mexican  country  certain  alphabets  were  invented 
by  the  European  priests  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  the  intro- 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum     53 

duction  of  Christianity  among  the  Amerinds.  Of  these  the  Mic- 
mac  is  a  good  example.1  They  were  not  drawn  from  pictographs, 
and  were  used  only  for  teaching  the  Bible.  In  that  field  they 
did  not  serve  to  preserve  Amerind  history,  traditions,  and  legends. 
After  long  contact  with  Europeans  there  was  invented  but  one 
alphabet,  and  he  who  accomplished  this  was  a  half-breed.  In 
1821,  George  Gist  (or  Guess),  whose  native  name  was  Sequoyah, 
a  Cherokee,  who  spoke  little  if  any  English,  but  whose  father  was 
a  Dutch  peddler  and  whose  mother  was  of  mixed  blood,  produced 
an  alphabet,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  a  syllabary,  which  was 
immediately  adopted  by  his  tribe,  and  enabled  them  to  record 
their  traditions,  sacred  formulae,  prayers,  etc.,  which  to-day  form 
a  valuable  portion  of  the  information  we  possess  of  these  Ame 
rind  people.  Many  of  the  symbols  were  adapted  from  our  alpha 
bet,  an  old  spelling-book  having  found  its  way  into  Sequoyah' s 
hands,  but  it  was  the  forms  which  were  utilised,  the  sounds  they 
represented  being  usually  different.  By  means  of  this  syllabary 
the  members  of  the  Cherokee  tribe  were  able  to  learn  in  a  few 
hours  to  write  words,  and  the  system  is  used  to  this  day. 

The  endeavour  to  prove  the  descent  of  the  Amerinds  from  one 
of  the  numerous  foreign  sources  that  have  from  time  to  time  been 
advocated  has  at  least  resulted  sometimes  in  the  accumulation  or 
reproduction  of  some  interesting  material.  Lord  Kingsborough 
became  so  infatuated  with  the  idea  that  the  Amerinds  were  the  Lost 
Tribes  of  Israel  that  he  attempted  to  prove  it  in  a  number  of  splen 
did  volumes,  which  also  contain  admirable  fac-similes  of  some  old 
Amerind  manuscripts.2  He  spent  his  fortune  on  this  work,  and 
through  a  business  dispute  with  the  merchants  who  furnished  the 
paper  he  was  thrown  into  Dublin  Jail,  where,  unfortunately,  he 
died. 

To  explain  the  methods  employed  in  the  ruder  attempts  at  re 
cording,  the  map  made  by  Lean  Wolf,  a  Hidatsa,  who  once  made 
a  trip  from  Fort  Berthold  to  Fort  Buford,  Dakota,  with  the  ambi 
tion  of  stealing  a  horse,  is  a  good  example.  In  the  illustration  the 
returning  horse-tracks  indicate  that  he  was  successful  and  rode 

'The  Sauk,  of  Algonquian  stock,  "have  a  syllabic  alphabet,  apparently 
the  work  of  some  early  French  missionary,  by  means  of  which  they  keep  up 
a  correspondence  with  friends  on  their  various  scattered  reservations." 
— Mooney,  American  Anthropologist,  January,  1899,  p.  143. 

2  For  an  explanation  of  the  Lost  Tribes  theory  see  Payne's  History  q/ 
the  New  World  Called  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  75  et  seq. 


54 


The   North-Americans   of  Yesterday 


home,  i  is  Lean  Wolf  himself ;  2,  the  Hidatsa  lodges  ;  3,  Lean 
Wolfs  tracks  on  his  outward  course  ;  4,  government  buildings  at 
Fort  Buford  ;  5,  several  Hidatsa  lodges  whose  occupants  intermar 
ried  with  Dakotas  ;  6,  Dakota  tipis;  7,  small  square,  a  white  man's 
home,  with  a  cross  indicating  that  he  had  married  a  Dakota 
woman  ;  8,  horse-tracks  ;  9,  the  Missouri  River  and  tributaries. 


©  0, 


0 


G 


LEAN    WOLFS    MAP,    HIDATSA 


Frequently  the  marks  on  the  rocks  merely  record  the  visit  of 
someone  to  the  place,  exactly  as  when  we  visit  the  birthplace  of 
Shakespeare  we  write  our  names  in  a  large  book  kept  there  for 
that  purpose  ;  or,  perhaps,  as  some  persons  carve  their  names  on 
public  buildings  and  in  other  conspicuous  places.  Gilbert  found 
a  number  of  such  records  at  Oakley  Springs,  Arizona,  and  old 
Tuba,  a  Moki,  explained  them  to  him.  Tuba  said  that  the  Mokis 
go  to  a  place  in  the  canyon  of  the  Little  Colorado  for  salt,  and 
they  stop  on  the  return  trip  at  this  spring,  where  each  draws  his 
totem  mark,  or  crest,  on  the  record  rocks  once,  and  once  only,  for 
each  trip.  There  are  many  repetitions  of  the  same  sign,  showing 
that  the  owner  of  that  particular  sign,  or  totem,  had  made  that 
many  journeys  to  the  salt  mine.  Tuba  gave  the  name  of  the 
totems,  and  they  were  all  animals. 

One  cannot  be  too  careful   in  taking  statements  from  Ame- 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      55 

rinds,  for,  like  some  of  their  white  brethren,  many  of  them  will 
lie  for  the  fun  of  it,  or  just  to  experiment  as  to  the  probable  re 
sult.  Sometimes,  r  •  -, 

too,  when  they  are 
telling  the  truth 
they  tell  only  part 


of  it.  This  is  par 
ticularly  the  case 
with  regard  to  [ 
springs,  sacred 
rites,  and  other 
matters  which  are  u.  s. 

•    11          -U       •    U     ^  THE    "  PENN  "    WAMPUM    BELT 

specially  cherished. 

Some  objects  in  the  custody  of  the  heads  of  the  secret  orders  are 
never  shown  in  public,  or  are  only  shown  on  special  occasions. 
Pictographs  representing  them,  therefore,  should  any  happen  to 
be  made,  would  not  be  intelligible  to  any  persons  but  the  initiated. 
Another  class  of  symbols  was  worked  out  in  wampum.     The 
popular  idea  of  wampum  seems  to  be  that  it  was  a  kind  of  Amerind 
money,  but  the  money  function  was  only  one  of  its  uses.     There 
was  another,  a  mnemonic  use,  of  more  im 
portance  —  that  is,  it  was  a  means  of  record 
ing  and   of  communicating   mnemonically 
among  the  tribes  of  the  North-east.     The 
Iroquois  used  it  chiefly  in  the  form  of  belts. 
The  beads  were  generally  white,  and  were 
used  in  strings  as  well  as  belts,  other  colours 
being  mingled  with  the  white,  as  purple  and 
pp         white,  or  black  and  white.     These  strings 
had  important  functions  in  summoning  offi- 
cers,  in  representing  persons,  and  in  confer- 
ring  authority.       But   all   wampum  had  a 
j  l,f       i   meaning  only  to  those  who  remembered  the 
1   particular  association  of  particular  forms  of 
it,   and   the   knowledge   once  entirely  for 
gotten   could   never  be   regained.      Conse- 

u.  s.  BU.  Eth.  quently  the  ideas  with  which  the  belts,  etc.  , 

STRINGS  OF  WAMPUM      were  associated  had  to  be  regularly  brought 

to  mind.     Once  a  year,  therefore,  they  were  exhibited  in  public, 
and  the  story  connected  with  each  carefully  rehearsed  so  that  it 


56  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

should  not  be  lost  through  forgetfulness.  This  custom  is  still  kept 
up  among  the  remnants  of  the  wampum-using  tribes.  In  other 
tribes,  formulae  and  drawings  were  often  preserved  by  certain  orders 
who  rehearsed  them  in  the  privacy  of  the  kiva.  The  wampum 
beads  were  generally  -J  inch  by  J  inch  diameter  —  that  is,  flat 
discs  of  shell.  They  were  sometimes  also  £  to  £  inch  thick,  with 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ORCA    OR    KILLER-WHALE    DECORATION,    HAIDA 

the  same  diameter.  When  the  white  men  discovered  the  valuation 
the  Amerinds  placed  on  these  beads  an  attempt  was  made  to  intro 
duce  some  of  European  manufacture,  but  it  met  with  only  partial 
success.1  The  average  width  of  a  belt  is  three  inches  and  the 
length  three  feet. 

By  some  tribes  the  human  body  was  also  used  as  a  surface  for 
the  display  of  pictographs.  Among  all  primitive  people  the  body 
has  been  often  decorated  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  by  means  of 
pigments  or  by  tattooing,  and  even  to-day  the  practice  lingers 
among  civilised  races,  in  their  sailors  and  soldiers  especially.  The 
primitive  totem  or  tattoo  marks  are  frequently  highly  elaborate, 
but  the  work  is  not  all  accomplished  at  one  time.  Years  some- 

1  Finally,  after  1714,  the  machine-made  beads  grew  in  favour,  because  the 
supply  of  native  beads  diminished  with  the  diminution  of  the  number  of 
Amerinds.  These  machine-made  beads  were  of  uniform  size,  while  the 
native  beads  varied  considerably.  See  Horatio  Hale,  fop.  Sci.  Monthly, 
February,  1897. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


HAIDA    TATTOOING 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


times  pass  before  the  drawings  are  complete.  The  Haidas  of  the 
North-west  coast  are  specially  given  to  this  form  of  decoration,  and 
their  bodies  bear  carefully  prepared  symbols.  They  are  heraldic 
signs,  or  the  family  totem,  of  the  clan  to  which  the  person  belongs. 
Pottery  was  also  a  medium,  and  some  of  the  designs  contained 
upon  earthenware  unfold  a  whole  legend  to  the  knowing  eye  of 
the  native.  The  designs  that  are  woven  into  blankets,  baskets, 
and  scarfs  of  Amerind  manufacture  are  also,  to  a  certain  extent, 
symbolic.  The  Navajos,  who  weave  a  superior  kind  of  blanket, 
put  into  it  a  variety  of  designs,  that  are  carried  entirely  in  their 
memory.  It  is  asserted  that  the  majority  of  these  designs  are 
Pueblo.  The  Navajos  no  doubt  absorbed  many  of  the  Pueblos, 
who  must  have  been  in  the  country  they  now  occupy  when  they 
arrived.  There  is  some  intermarriage  of  Navajos  and  Mokis  in 
these  latter  days.1 

Everything  the  Amerind  does  pertains  to  his  religious 
belief,  and  these  symbols,  totems,  and  pictures  play  an  im 
portant  part  in  his  life.  Some  sign  or  token  occurs  on 
almost  every  article  of  his  manufacture. 


O 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    DRAWING — "THE    MAN    IN    THE    MOON    COMES    DOWN" 

Excellent  examples  of  Algonquin  mnemonic  records  are  found 
in  the  songs  of  the  Mide  society,  which  have  been  preserved 
for  many  generations  by  means  of  their  picture-writing,  and 

1  "The  best  blanket-makers,  smiths,   and   other  artisans   among  the 
Navajos  are  the  descendants  of  captives  from  Zuiii  and  other  Pueblos. "- 
J.  G.  Bourke,  Jour.  Am.  Folk-Lore,  p.  115. 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      59 

some  of  the  records  are  exceedingly  elaborate.  The  method 
is  to  associate  certain  devices  with  songs  or  with  parts  of 
songs  to  recall  the  words  to  the  memory  of  the  singer  when  he 
beholds  the  pictures,  and  in  this  way  they  have  been  handed 
along  through  the  centuries.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
almost  all  important  legends  are  recorded  in  this  mnemonic  way 
among  the  tribes  of  North  America.  Of  course  the  memory  is 
likely  to  fail  in  some  details  and  so  the  songs  become  more  or  less 
changed  as  time  goes  on,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  the  changes 
are  of  much  importance,  for  where  the  memory  is  trained  in  this 
way  it  grows  remarkably  accurate.  There  was  much  practising 
of  the  various  songs  at  each  particular  season,  under  the  guidance 
of  some  veteran  singer. 

The  Eskimo,  in  their  picture-writing,  seem  now  to  be  rather  a 
class  by  themselves.  Whether  the  suggestion  of  perspective 
found  in  some  pictures  was  a  result  of  contact  with  the  whites  I 
am  unable  to  state,  but  it  seems  probable.  In  the  above  illus 
tration  the  suggestion  of  perspective  is  clear.  There  is  a  land 
scape' with  houses,  with  the  moon  in  the  sky,  and  with  a  perfectly 
evident  effort  to  make  the  foreground  and  middle  and  background 
take  their  proper  places.  Such  a  thing  is  not  to  be  found  through 
out  all  the  other  Amerind  stocks. 

From  Alaska  come  some  good  examples  of  the  ideographic,  by 
way  of  San  Francisco,  where  one  Naumoff,  an  Alaskan  native, 
made  them.  They  are  written  on  strips  of  wood  and  placed  in 
conspicuous  places  as  notifications. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

The  irregular  line  indicates  the  contour  of  the  country.  The  traveller  is  seen  starting  out  at 
the  left.  He  presently  leaves  a  stick  with  a.  bunch  of  grass  to  show  direction,  and  stops  with  a 
friend  at  night  — the  division  of  days  represented  by  a  line  upright.  Next  morning,  on  the  second 
hill,  he  discovers  game,  etc. 

Some  tribes  have  a  system  of  enumerating  the  members  of  it 
and  keeping  a  kind  of  clan  roll.  Chief  Big  Road,  a  Dakota,  was 
one  day  brought  to  the  agency  and  required  to  give  an  account  of 
his  followers.  He  submitted  a  roster,  made  on  common  foolscap 
paper  with  black  and  coloured  pencils.  The  names,  represented 
by  pictures,  were  Big  Bear,  Bear-looking-behind,  Brings-back- 


60  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Plenty,  White  Buffalo,  and  so  on.  This  is  also  an  example  of  the 
ideographic.  Red  Cloud  had  a  similar  census  of  his  warriors.  It 
was  prepared  under  his  supervision  at  the  Pine  Ridge  Agency. 
Owing  to  some  disagreement,  the  agent  had  refused  to  recognise 
Red  Cloud's  leadership  and  named  another  man  as  chief.  There 
upon  the  adherents  of  Red  Cloud  prepared  this  document,  and 
sent  it  to  Washington  to  establish  his  claim.  The  names  pic- 
torially  represented  are  Shield-Bear,  Sees-the-Enemy,  Biting- 
Bear,  Cut-through,  Red  Owl,  etc. 

1788-89  1789-90  1790-91 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

SPECIMENS    OF    THE    DAKOTA    WINTER    COUNTS 

Dates  determined  by  counting  back  from  great  events 

The  left :    1788-89.    Very  severe  winter.    Crows  were  frozen  to  death.    "  Many-crows-died-winter  " 

Middle:    1789-90      Two  Mandans  killed  by  the  Minneconjous 

Right:    1790-91,     "  All-the-lndians-see-the-flag-winter " 

In  this  same  line  are  the  Dakota  winter  counts  collected  by 
Dr.  Corbusier.  The  years  are  counted  by  winters,  as  the  winter 
among  the  Dakotas  makes  the  deepest  impression.  These  records 
have  been  kept  for  many  years  and  are  used  in  computing  time 
and  to  aid  the  memory  in  recalling  names  and  events  of  different 
years.  The  enumeration  is  begun  at  the  winter  last  recorded  and 
carried  backward.  There  are  at  least  five  of  these  counts  kept 
among  the  Oglalas  and  Brules  by  different  men.1 

From  the  manuscript  drawing-book  of  an  Amerind  prisoner  at 
St.  Augustine  we  have  a  "  conversation  "  about  the  lassooing, 
shooting,  and  final  killing  of  a  bison  which  had  wandered  into 
camp.  '  The  dotted  lines  indicate  footprints.  The  Indian  drawn 
under  the  animal  having  secured  it  by  the  forefeet,  so  informs  his 
companions,  as  indicated  by  the  line  drawn  from  his  mouth  to  the 
object  mentioned.  The  left-hand  figure,  having  secured  the 
buffalo  by  the  horns,  gives  his  nearest  comrade  an  opportunity  to 
strike  it  with  an  axe,  which  he  no  doubt  announces  that  he  will 
do,  as  the  line  from  his  mouth  to  the  head  of  the  animal  indicates. 
The  Indian  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  is  told  by  a  squaw  to 
take  an  arrow  and  join  his  companions,  when  he  turns  his  head 
1  Garrick  Mallery,  Fourth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign- Language  —  Wampum      6 1 

to  inform  her  that  he  has  one  already,  which  fact  he  demonstrates 
by  holding  up  the  weapon.1 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


KILLING    A    BISON 


The  Navajos  have  a  singular  kind  of  picture-writing  which 
has  been  called  "  dry-painting."  These  dry-paintings  are  made 
on  the  ground  with  dry  sand  of  various  colours.2  All  the  designs 

1  Mallery,  Fourth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 

2  Washington  Matthews,  Fifth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.    The  dry-paintings 
also  occur  in  the  "  Hoshkawn  "  ceremony,  described  by  James  Stevenson, 
Eighth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth 


62 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


are  made  with  the  utmost  care  and  precision,  being  drawn  accord 
ing  to  an  exact  system,  except  in  minor  points,  where  the  artist  is 
left  to  his  imagination.  So  far  as  known  this  system  is  not  re 
corded  in  any  way,  but  depends  entirely  on  the  memory  of  those 
in  charge.  Changes  must  therefore  occur  in  the  course  of  time. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


After  Dr.  Jones 


SHELL    DISC,    TENNESSEE 
Diameter,  4.4  inches 


The  sand  is  trailed  out  of  the  hand  between  the  thumb  and  fore 
finger,  and  when  a  mistake  is  made  it  is  corrected  by  renewing  at 
that  point  the  surface  of  the  sand  which  forms  the  general  ground 
for  the  work.  No  less  than  seventeen  ceremonies  are  illustrated 
by  drawings  of  this  kind.  Sand  enters  into  some  of  the  kiva 
ceremonies  of  the  Moki,  but  in  a  different  way.  It  is  used  more 
to  maintain  in  position  certain  objects  that  belong  to  the  ritual. 


Picture-Writing  —  Sign-Language  —  Wampum      63 

The  mounds  of  the  Mississippi  valley  have  yielded  antiquities 
of  great  interest,  but  thus  far  nothing  that  is  beyond  the  ability 
of  the  ordinary  Amerind  to  execute.  Some  shell  discs,  which 
Holmes  suggests  may  have  been  time  symbols,  attract  special 
attention.  There  are  generally  thirteen  small  outer  circles  on 
the  discs,  and  thirteen  is  a  number  that  occurs  frequently  in 
Amerind  chronology.  On  other  discs  various  objects  are  drawn, 
the  one  first  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  white  race  being  the 
figure  of  the  cross  because  of  its  connection  with  the  Christian 
religion.  But  it  had  no  similar  significance  with  the  Christian 
cross.  Crosses  were  found  among  almost  all  the  tribes  of  North 
America,  because  a  cross  is  an  easy  and  a  most  natural  figure 
to  construct.  Another  emblem  found  throughout  the  world,  and 
next  to  the  cross  the  simplest  figure  to  make,  is  that  called 

the  swastika,  merely  a  cross  M--J  with  the  arms  broken  at  right 

angles.  The  Mormons  firmly  believe,  along  with  Kingsborough, 
that  the  Amerinds  are  the  Lost  Tribes  of  Israel,  and  one  of  their 
elders  has  succeeded  in  translating  some  picture-writing  thus  : 
4 '  /,  Mahanti,  the  2nd  king  of  the  Lamanites  in  five  valleys  in  the 
mountains,  make  this  record  in  the  twelve  hundredth  year  since  we 
came  out  of  Jerusalem.  And  I  have  three  sons  gone  to  the  south 
country  to  live  by  hunting  antelope  and  deer."  Like  the  power  to 
divine  the  future,  the  power  to  translate  picture-writings  is  rare. 

In  some  of  the  Moundbuilder  work  there  is  a  suggestion  of  a 
position  for  the  makers  intermediate  between,  say,  the  Algonquin 
and  the  Nahuatl  or  Aztec  tribes.  Their  serpent  symbols  strongly 
resemble  those  of  more  southern  tribes,  and  also  some  of  the  fig 
ures  in  shell  and  copper. 

The  fact  that  the  serpent  was  a  prominent  object  with  them  as 
with  the  Nahuatl  tribes  tends  to  link  the  tribes  who  made  these 
symbols  with  the  Nahuatl  tribes.  The  serpent  symbol,  especially 
the  feathered  kind,1  belongs  mainly  to  the  tribes  of  the  Mexican 
region,  where  the  rattlesnake  exists  in  its  greatest  variety.  The 

1  "Pictographs  of  the  feathered,  horned  serpent  are  also  found  on  the 
cliff  to  the  south-west  of  Walpi.  These  pictographs  have  the  head,  with 
a  representation  of  a  horn  and  feathers,  and  the  same  conventionalised 
markings  of  parallel  lines  and  arrow-points  which  are  found  on  the  kilts 
of  the  vSnake  priests."— Fewkes,  Journal  of  American  Ethnology,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  38. 


64  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

rattlesnake  was  highly  venerated,  and  tribes  as  far  north  as  the 
Moki  country  in  the  West,  and  perhaps  as  the  Ohio  in  the  East, 
might  be  correctly  called  the  Snake  people.  There  is  nothing 


O 


\ 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


SHELL    GORGET,    TENNESSEE 

Actual  size 


improbable  in  supposing  that  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  Mississippi 
valley,  if  they  were  not  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Aztecs,  were  in 
tolerably  close  communication  with  them,  or  with  tribes  inter 
mediate  between  the  two. 


Sign-Language  —  Wampum  —  Cupped-Stones      65 

Sometimes  there  occur  markings  on  the  rocks  in  the  South-west 
that  would  be  a  puzzle  to  us  did  we  not  know,  through  the  Mokis, 
who  are  still  making  them,  just  what  they  are.  There  is  there 
fore  no  room  for  the  imagination  ;  the  long  scratchings  are  only 
grooves  made  in  sandstone  by  the  Moki  farmer  sharpening  his 
planting  stick. 


€> 


€> 


CUP    MARKINGS 


Another  kind  of  rock  markings,  the  so-called  cupped-stones  or 
cup  markings,  about  which  there  has  been  a  vast  amount  of 
discussion,  may  be  considered  here  because  they  have  generally 
been  thought  to  have  symbolic  significance.  That  some  of  them 
may  have  had  such  significance  is  admitted  below,  but  the  bulk 
of  those  on  this  continent  it  seems  possible  to  explain  without 
resort  to  symbolism.  An  explanation  which  I  offer,  for  what 
it  may  be  worth,  I  have  never  seen  suggested,  though  the  idea 
may  not  be  new.  It  is  well  known  that  the  common  form 
of  fire-drill  in  use  from  one  end  of  this  continent  to  the  other 


66  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

was  that  in  which  the  end  of  a  straight  stick  is  made  to  rotate 
back  and  forth  in  a  rounded  cavity  in  another  stick  of  softer 
wood  called  the  hearth.  In  order  that  the  operation  should  be 
speedily  successful  in  producing  fire,  it  was  necessary  to  have  the 
end  of  the  drill  convex,  so  that  it  would  immediately  bear  as 
nearly  as  possible  on  the  whole  surface  of  the  hearth  cavity.  In 
order  to  produce  this  convexity,  the  Amerind  pecked  a  small  cav 
ity  on  a  slab  or  rock  of  sandstone,  and  when  he  had  it  in  the 
proper  condition,  he  could  bring  his  drill  very  quickly  to  the 
desired  convexity,  and  also  give  it  a  roughness  of  surface  that 
would  contribute  to  the  friction.  As  the  fire-drill  was  long  in 
constant  use,  many  cavities  were  necessary,  for  a  cavity  would 
grow  too  deep,  or  for  some  other  cause  would  not  be  adequate. 
A  new  hole  would  then  be  made,  and  thus  in  the  course  of  time 
there  would  be  numbers  of  the  cavities  on  a  rock  or  slab,  which 
was  convenient  or  had  been  found  to  possess  the  right  texture  for 
the  purpose.  My  opinion,  therefore,  is  that  these  so-called  "  cup 
markings  "  or  "  cupped  "  stones  were  in  America  the  result  of  the 
sharpening  of  fire-drills,  just  as  the  long  grooves  seen  at  the  Moki 
towns  to-day  are  the  result  of  the  sharpening  of  planting  sticks. 
Gerard  Fowke  describes  the  cupped-stones  in  the  Bureau  of  Eth 
nology  collection,1  as  follows,  and  it  will  be  noticed  that  thin 
pieces  have  cups  on  both  sides,  while  the  large  blocks  have  them 
only  on  one.  This  was  because  it  was  convenient  to  turn  the  small 
stones  over.  In  some  cases  where  a  cup  had  worn  too  large,  an 
other  was  started  in  the  bottom  of  it,  perhaps  because  the  rock  at 
that  particular  spot  suited  the  fancy  of  the  individual.  Fowke 
says  :  "  The  cupped-stones  in  the  Bureau  are  almost  invariably 
of  reddish  sandstone,  of  varying  texture,  from  a  few  ounces  to 
thirty  pounds  in  weight.  The  holes  are  from  one  to  twenty-five 
in  number,  of  various  sizes,  even  in  the  same  stone,  and  follow 
the  natural  contour  of  the  surface  even  when  that  is  quite  irregu 
lar;  the  stone  is  never  flattened  or  dressed  to  bring  the  cups  on  a 
level  ;  none  show  any  marks  of  work,  but  are  rough  blocks  or 
slabs  in  their  natural  state.  Many  of  the  holes  are  roughly  pecked 
in,  but  the  larger  ones  are  usually  smooth,  as  if  ground  out,  and 
almost  complete  hemispheres.  They  range  from  a  pit  only  started 
or  going  scarcely  beyond  the  surface  to  one  two  inches  in  diam 
eter.  The  smaller  ones  with  one  cup  pass  into  the  pitted  stones. 
1  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  of  Eth.,  p.  92. 


Sign-Language  —  Wampum  —  Cupped-Stones      67 

Occasionally  at  the  bottom  of  a  large  cup  there  is  a  small  second 
ary  hole  as  though  made  by  a  flint  drill.  Slabs  or  thin  pieces 
nearly  always  have  cups  on  both  sides,  while  locks  or  thick  slabs 
have  them  on  one  side  only. ' ' 

In  the  case  of  the  cup  markings  of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere, 
their  frequent  peculiar  arrangement  accompanied  by  grooves  and 
circles  may  have  pertained  to  some  ceremony  connected  with  the 
drill-dressing.  It  may  have  been  thought  that  the  fire  would  come 
quicker,  be  better,  or  last  longer  when  the  drill  was  dressed  in 
holes  of  a  certain  type  ;  or  special  stones  and  holes  of  peculiar  ar 
rangement  may  have  been  required  for  dressing  the  drill-end  that 
was  to  be  used  by  the  priest  in  the  sacred  ceremony  of  producing 
the  "  new- fire."  In  this  manner  a  primitive  custom  might  become 
sacred  and  be  surrounded  with  symbolism  exemplified  in  cup 
markings  the  world  over. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

CUP    FROM    CH1R1QUI 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TERRA    COTTA    FROM    CHIRIQUI 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   MEXICAN   AND   CENTRAL-AMERICAN   WRITING,    INSCRIP 
TIONS,    AND   BOOKS 

WHILE  there  are  found  in  the  mounds  of  the  central  Mis 
sissippi  region,  and  also  among  the  living  natives  of  the 
North-west  coast,  resemblances  to  the  art  work  of  the 
Aztecs,  Mayas,  and  other  tribes  of  the  Central-American  region, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  there  was  any  approach,  in  these  local 
ities  or  elsewhere,  to  any  kind  of  record  to  be  compared  with  the 
proficiency  of  the  South.  What  there  may  once  have  been  in 
the  way  of  writings  on  bark  or  wood  we  can  only  conjecture.  The 
Davenport  tablet  has  been  pronounced,  on  good  authority,  to 
be  within  the  powers  of  the  Dakota  tribes.  Other  tablets  and 
inscriptions  of  the  Eastern  region  are  surrounded  with  doubt. 
The  Mexican,  that  is,  the  Aztec,  writing  was  more  pictorial 
than  that  of  the  Mayas.  It  was  cruder  in  every  way,  and  com 
paring  the  two  in  the  pages  of  Kingsborough  and  later  reproduc 
tions,  it  is  easy  to  distinguish  a  superior  culture  indicated  by  the 
writing  of  the  Maya.  We  are  more  fortunate  in  the  number  of 
Aztec  manuscripts  preserved.  The  Spanish  priests  did  what  they 
could  to  obliterate  the  books  existing  when  they  came  into  the 
country,  and  Bishop  Zumarraga  made  a  fine  bonfire  out  of  a  lot 
of  them.  But  some  escaped.  Some  priests  sent  copies  or  originals 

68 


Mexican  and  Central  American  Writing,   Etc.    69 

back  home  as  curiosities,  thinking,  doubtless,  that  this  took  them 
out  of  the  sight  of  the  natives  quite  as  effectually  as  the  burning, 
and  the  natives  themselves  succeeded  in  preserving  in  secret 
some  of  the  ancient  documents.  None  of  the  oldest,  however, 
have  been  found,  but  in  time  the  number  known  to  us  may  be 
considerably  increased.  One  by  one  they  turn  up  unexpectedly. 
That  called  the  Codex  Borgia  was  in  use  as  a  plaything  of  children 
of  the  Gustiniani  family,  till  rescued  by  Cardinal  Borgia,  and  only 
recently  another  one  has  been  found  dating  from  the  year  1545,' 
wherein  there  are  pictorial  combinations  never  before  seen.  Thus 
gradually  our  data  are  increasing,  and  with  the  awakening  interest 
in  Amerindian  archaeology  that  seems  to  have  come  in  these  latter 
days  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  century  that  has  let  slip  much 
valuable  data  never  to  be  recovered,  further  finds  may  be  expected 
from  time  to  time.  The  style  of  the  Aztec  documents  is  different 
from  that  of  the  Maya  and  Brinton  believes  them  to  be  independent 
developments.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  both  were  derived 
from  the  same  source  and  developed  independently.2  The  Aztec 
writing  is  of  a  "  rebus  "  character,  and  Brinton  has  applied  to  it 
the  term  ikonomatic,  which  he  explains  as  follows  in  his  Essays  of 
an  Americanist*:  "  All  methods  of  recording  ideas  have  been 
divided  into  two  classes  —  Thought  Writing  and  Sound  Writing. 
The  first,  simplest  and  oldest,  is  Thought  Writing.  This  in  turn 
is  subdivided  into  two  forms — Ikonographic  and  Symbolic  Writ 
ing.  The  former  is  also  known  as  Imitative,  Representative,  or 
Picture  Writing.  The  object  to  be  held  in  memory  is  represented 
by  its  picture  drawn  with  such  skill,  or  lack  of  skill,  as  the  writer 
may  possess.  In  Symbolic  Writing,  a  single  characteristic  part 
or  trait  serves  to  represent  the  whole  object  ;  thus  the  track  of  an 
animal  will  stand  for  the  animal  itself.  ...  It  will  be  observed 
that  Thought  Writing  has  no  reference  to  spoken  language  ; 
neither  the  picture  of  a  wolf  nor  the  representation  of  his  foot 
print  conveys  the  slightest  notion  of  the  sound  of  the  word  wolf. 

1  By  Dr.  Nicolas  Leon.     Science,  Jan.   27,   1899,  p.   156.     Still  another 
lately  turned  up  in  possession  of  an  English  gentleman. 

"  They  may  have  passed  through  some  of  the  same  stages  of  growth, 
but  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  the  Mayan  is  the  older  of  the 
two  classes,  and  that  these  two  classes  have  developed  independently. — 
Thomas,  Study  of  American  Archceology ',  p.  360. 

3  P.  213  et  seq. 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


How  was  the  enormous  leap  made  from  the  thought  to  the  sound 
—in  other  words,  from  an  ideographic  to  a  phonetic  method  of 
writing  ?  This  question  has  received  considerable  attention  from 
scholars  with  reference  to  the  development  of  the  two  most  im 
portant  alphabets  in  the  world,  the  Egyptian  and  the  Chinese. 
Both  these  began  as  simple  picture  writing,  and  both  progressed 
to  almost  complete  phoneticism.  In  both  cases,  however,  the 
earliest  steps  are  lost,  and  can  be  retraced  only  by  indications 


PAGE  FROM  AN  AZTEC  BOOK  (from  a  copy  in  the  possession  of  M.  H.  Saville) 

Plate  67  of  the  Nahuan  precolumbian  Vatican  Codex,  No.  3773,  Loubat  edition.  This  is  the  igth 
page  of  the  Tonalamatl,  the  sacred  astrological  calendar  of  the  Aztecs.  The  seated  figure  is 
the  goddess  Xochiquetzal,  and  on  the  left  is  the  god  Tezcatlipoca.  The  book  is  in  size  about 
5x6  inches. 

remaining  after  a  high  degree  of  phonetic  power  had  been  reached. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Mexican  and  probably  in  the  Maya 
hieroglyphics,  we  find  a  method  of  writing  which  is  intermediate 
between  the  two  great  classes  I  have  mentioned,  and  which  illus 
trates  in  a  striking  manner  the  phases  through  which  both  the 
Egyptian  and  the  Semitic  alphabets  passed  somewhat  before  the 
dawn  of  history.  To  this  method,  which  stands  midway  between 
the  ikonographic  and  the  alphabetic  methods  of  writing,  I  have 
given  the  name  ikonomatic,  derived  from  the  Greek  SIHGOV-OVOS,  an 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,   Etc.      71 

image,  a  figure  ;  OVOJJ(X-<XTO£,  a  name.  .  .  .  It  is  this  plan  on 
which  those  familiar  puzzles  are  constructed  which  are  called 
rebuses  and  none  other  than  this  which  served  to  bridge  over  the 
wide  gap  between  Thought  and  Sound  Writing.  It  is,  however, 
not  correct  to  say  that  it  is  a  writing  by  things,  rebus  ;  but  it  is 
by  the  names  of  things,  and  hence  I  have  coined  the  work  ikono- 
matic  to  express  this  clearly."  The  position  of  the  signs  often 
had  important  significance,  just  as  it  has  in  some  of  our  puzzles, 
like  the  following  : 

WOOD 

JOHN 

MASS 

which  is  said  to  have  been  the  address  on  a  letter  that  found  its 
destination  in  John  Underwood,  Andover,  Massachusetts.  It 
might  be  supposed  that,  having  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
method  of  the  Aztec  writing,  the  general  principles  of  which, 
according  to  Brinton,  were  known  many  years  ago,  we  would 
now  be  able  to  translate  the  Mexican  documents  with  little  diffi 
culty.  The  trouble  lies,  however,  in  the  lack  of  exact  know 
ledge  of  the  Nahuatl  language  itself,  and  till  that  is  acquired  small 
progress  will  be  made.  It  will  be  necessary  to  understand  this 
language  before  its  modern  additions  and  changes  came  in,  in 
order  to  connect  it  with  the  picture-writing,  or  rather  the  ikono- 
matic  writing,  of  the  fifteenth  and  previous  centuries.  It  has 
been  doubted  whether  there  is  any  phonetic  element  in  either  the 
Aztec  or  the  Maya  hieroglyphics,  but  the  evidence  seems  to  indi 
cate  that  there  is  a  phonetic  element,  notwithstanding  that  there 
has  been  a  following  in  many  cases  of 
rather  slender  threads  of  evidence. 

Brinton  gives  the  accompanying  il 
lustration  of  the  character  of  the  Aztec 
writing,  this  being  the  name  of  Mont- 
ezuma,  but  really  reading  Moquahzoma. 
As  most  writers  spell  this  name  to  suit 

-  A,  MEXICAN     WRITING     OF 

themselves,     judging     from    the     great  NAME  OF  MONTEZUMA 

variety  of  spellings,  we  may  as  well  ac-  From  Brinton 

cept  Moquahzoma  too.     Indeed,  as  this 

seems  to  be  supported  by  the  evidence  of  the  writing,  it  is  more 
likely  to  be  correct  than  the  others.     The  picture  at  the  right  is 


72  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  a  mouse-trap,  montti  in  Nahuatl,  "  with  a  phonetic  value  of 
mo  or  mon  ;  the  head  of  the  eagle  has  the  value  quauh,  from 
quauhtli  ;  it  is  transfixed  with  a  lancet  20  and  surmounted  with 
a  hand  maitl,  whose  phonetic  value  is  ma,  and  these  values 
combined  give  Moquahzoma" 

When  Mendoza  was  viceroy  of  New  Spain,  he  caused  a  speci 
men  of  Aztec  writing  and  book-making  to  be  prepared  and  sent 
to  Charles  V.,  with  an  explanation  in  Spanish.  Copies  of  this 
exist  to-day  ;  one  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  and  an 
other,  which  Prescott  thought  was  the  original,  though  Bancroft 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PART    OF    PLATE   65,    DRESDEN    CODEX 
Maya 


believed  it  to  be  a  copy,  in  the  Escurial  Library.  This  Codex 
Mendoza  was  in  three  parts  :  ist,  historical  ;  2d,  tribute  rolls  ;  3d, 
descriptive  of  the  domestic  life  and  manners  of  the  people.  Besides 
this  and  the  Borgia,  there  are  the  Codex  Vaticanus,  in  the  Vatican 
Library,  another  in  the  same  place  written  on  skin ;  the  Codex  Tel- 
leriano-Remensis,  in  the  Bibliotheque  National,  Paris  ;  the  Codex 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing",    Etc.      73 

Bologna,  in  the  library  of  the  Scientific  Institute,  and  a  number  of 
others  in  divers  places.1  The  remnants  of  the  native  Tezcucan 
archives  were  inherited  by  Ixtlilxochitl,  lineal  descendant  of  the 
last  "  king  "  of  Tezcuco,  who  used  them  in  preparing  his  historical 
writings.  The  collection  afterwards  disappeared. 

Many  of  the  manuscripts  were  merely  chronological,  but  there 
were  also  tribute  rolls,  law  codes,  court  records,  historical  records, 
and  all  the  varied  writings  that  belong  to  an  active  and  intelligent 
people.  The  priests  executed  and  held  in  their  possession  the 
important  books,  and  seem  to  have  been  the  leaders  of  whatever 
learning  existed.  "  These  writings,"  says  Bancroft,  "  were  a 
sealed  book  to  the  masses,  and  even  to  the  educated  classes  who 
looked  with  superstitious  reverence  on  the  priestly  writers  and 
their  magic  scrolls." 

The  paper  used  was  usually  made  from  the  leaves  of  the 
maguey.  It  is  probable  that  the  Aztecs  learned  to  make  it  from 
the  Mayas  or  from  some  intervening  tribe  who  had  learned  from 
the  Mayas.  Sometimes  the  books  were  long  strips  of  cotton 
cloth,  or  even  a  kind  of  parchment.  They  were  either  rolled  up 
or  folded  like  a  screen,  and  frequently  had  covers  of  wood.  A 
great  deal  of  ingenuity  and  skill  was  bestowed  on  the  preparation 
of  these  books  and  the  writing  they  contained. 

The  appropriate  name  of  "  calculiform  "  2  has  been  given  to  the 
Maya  hieroglyphics  because  of  their  resemblance  to  pebble  forms. 
Besides  the  inscriptions  carved  on  stone  from  the  Isthmus  of 
Tehuantepec  to  the  northern  border  of  Honduras,  there  are  some 
on  wood  and  in  stucco,  but  there  exist,  so  far  as  known,  but  very 
few  of  the  numerous  records  and  books  of  perishable  material 
which  the  pious  zeal  of  the  Spanish  priests  hastened  to  gather 
together  and  purify  of  heresy  and  wickedness  in  the  fires  of 
bigotry.  Bishop  Landa  says  :  "  As  they  contained  nothing  that 
did  not  savour  of  superstition  and  lies  of  the  devil,  we  burnt 
them  all,  at  which  the  natives  grieved  most  keenly  and  were 
greatly  pained."  The  practice  of  the  Mayas,  it  is  said,  was  to 
bury  the  books  with  the  priest  who  had  written  them,  in  which 
case  large  numbers  of  the  writings  must  have  been  disposed  of 
before  the  Spaniards  took  a  hand.  Doubtless,  however,  only  cer 
tain  books  were  thus  buried  with  the  authors,  and  perhaps  copies 

1  Several  have  recently  been  splendidly  reproduced  and  may  be  found 
at  large  libraries.  '2  Suggested  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur. 


74  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  these  may  have  been  preserved.  At  any  rate,  unless  some  of 
the  books  have  been  protected  in  an  absolutely  dry  place,  tomb  or 
what  not,  or  there  were  also  writings  on  tablets  of  clay  or  stone, 
we  are  not  likely  to  have  our  present  scanty  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  Mayas  much  increased  through  this  channel.  There  are 
possibilities  of  discovery  in  many  ways,  even  amongst  the  papers 
in  forgotten  archives. 


Peabody  Museum 

VASE    FROM    LABNA,    YUCATAN,    WITH    PECULIAR    MARKINGS 
Diameter  at  top,  5  inches ;  diameter  at  bottom,  4  inches  ;  height,  4^  inches 

In"  the  Peabody  Museum  at  Cambridge  I  saw  a  small  vase 
from  Labna  that  fixed  my  attention  at  once,  and  I  understand 
there  are  others  in  existence  of  a  similar  character.  It  bears 
certain  marks  in  the  clay  that  suggested  to  my  mind  an  alphabetic 
system.  The  marks  are  in  groups,  each  group  contained  in  a 
space  that  apparently  corresponds  to  the  calculiform  inscriptions 
of  the  monuments.  It  seems  possible,  therefore,  that  this  may  be 
a  development  out  of  the  calculiform.  Afterwards  I  found  a  ref 
erence  apparently  to  this  same  vase  in  Brinton's  Primer  of  Mayan 
Hieroglyphics.  He  says  :  "  There  is  some  reason  to  suppose, 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,   Etc.     75 

however,  that  in  this  part  of  the  Mayan  territory  there  had  been 
a  development  of  this  writing  until  it  had  become  conventional 
ized  into  a  series  of  lines  and  small  circles  enclosed  in  the  usual 
square  or  oval  of  the  katun.  I  have  seen  several  examples  of 
this  remarkable  script,  and  give  one,  Fig.  79,  part  of  an  inscrip 
tion  on  a  vase  from  Labna,  Yucatan,  now  in  the  Peabody  Mu 
seum."  If  these  marks  should  turn  out  to  be  alphabetic,  then  we 
may  expect  to  find  slabs  and  tablets  similarly  inscribed. 

We  are  but  at  the  beginning  of  our  investigation  of  the  Ame 
rind  field.  Only  recently  Saville  discovered  an  entirely  new  form 
of  hieroglyphic  in  Oaxaca  in  a  tomb  believed  to  be  Zapotecan. 
Organised  and  exhaustive  exploration  will  yield  fine  results. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

CONVEX    DISCOIDAL    STONE,    NORTH    CAROLINA 

"  Such  organised  and  exhaustive  exploration  is  the  more  to  be 
desired,"  says  Goodman,  "  for  the  reason  that  all  the  inscriptions 
so  far  brought  to  light  are  of  a  purely  chronological  character, 
destitute  of  any  real  historical  importance.  They  are  merely  pub 
lic  calendars,  as  it  were,  showing  that  at  specified  dates  certain 
periods  of  their  scheme  would  begin  or  end,  or  that  a  correspond 
ence  would  occur  between  two  or  more  of  their  different  plans  for 
computing  time.  Aside  from  the  circumstance  that  the  initial 
date  in  most  instances  undoubtedly  marks  the  time  at  which  the 
temple,  stela,  or  altar  to  which  it  belongs  was  erected,  I  do  not 
believe  there  is  the  record  of  a  single  historical  event  in  all  the 
inscriptions  at  present  in  our  possession.  That  a  people  as  cul 
tured  as  they  should  have  had  no  historical  records  at  all,  would 
be  a  presumption  too  absurd  for  credence,  even  without  the  testi 
mony  of  the  early  Spanish  authorities  to  the  contrary.  The  actual 


76  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

question  is  whether  any  of  them  will  ever  be  discovered.  If  they 
were  inscribed  upon  paper  or  parchment  and  buried  with  their 
priestly  owners,  as  we  are  told,  there  is  very  little  hope  that  any 
vestige  of  them  remains,  unless  there  may  have  been  some  instance 
of  almost  miraculous  preservation.  Still  that  remote  chance  is 
worth  a  vast  amount  of  research.  But  a  better  hope  ...  is 
that  in  crypts  or  tombs  or  other  unexplored  receptacles  may  be 
collected  historical  tablets  of  durable  material  —  stone,  stucco, 
baked  clay,  or  even  metal — which  patient  excavation  will  yet  un 
earth."  Chance  has  played  the  chief  part  in  the  preservation  of 
the  few  documents  that  have  come  down  to  us.  In  the  Biblio- 
theque  National  at  Paris  the  Maya  one  now  known  as  the  Codex 
Peresianus  had  been  neglected  amongst  a  lot  of  old  papers  where 
De  Rosny  happened  to  discover  it.  It  has  generally  been  as 
sumed  that  because  there  was  found  one  form  of  writing  on  the 
monuments  and  a  similar  form  in  the  few  documents  preserved 
there  was  but  the  one  method.  This,  however,  does  not  necessar 
ily  follow.  The  monumental  records  and  the  chronological  books 
may  have  been  written  by  the  priests  in  the  archaic  style  while 
the  ordinary  and  common  style  was  something  quite  different.1 
Pio  Perez  has  been  followed  with  great  faith,  but  Goodman  thrusts 
him  aside  in  the  following  paragraph  :  "The  man  who  led  every 
body  astray  .  .  .  was  Don  Pio  Perez.  ...  In  the  absence 
of  any  regularly  ordained  authority,  he  was  at  once  accepted  on 
his  own  bare  assumption  as  a  leader  and  lawgiver,  and  then  began 
that  journey  through  the  wilderness  which  has  lasted  more  than 
forty  years.  ...  I  ran  in  the  ruck  for  seven  seasons. 
Then  I  turned  and  went  back  to  Landa  —  to  whom  all  desirous  of 
reliable  information  concerning  Maya  chronology  must  go  at 
last."  2  The  trouble  with  following  Landa  has  been  the  inaccur 
acy  of  the  translation  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  as  well  as  a  certain 
confusion  existing  within  the  original  manuscript.3 

Brinton  says  :  "  The  Mayas  were  naturally  a  literary  people. 
Had  they  been  offered  the  slightest  chance  for  the  cultivation  of 
their  intellects,  they  would  have  become  a  nation  of  readers  and 

1  Egypt  had  three  kinds  of  writing. 

2  Biologia  Centrali  Americana,  part  ix.,  p.  n. 

3  For  a  fac-simile  of  part  of  the  Landa  MS.  and  bibliographic  notes  on 
Mayan  and  Mexican  writing  see  Winsor1  s  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist,  of  the  U.  S.y 
vol.  i.,  p.  197. 


[Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,    Etc.     77 

writers. ' '  Instead  of  having  this  chance  they  were  crushed  by  the 
Spaniards  and  never  rose  again.  But  the  decline  of  the  Mayas 
cannot  be  altogether  laid  at  the  door  of  Spain.  The  remnant  of  the 
stock  encountered  by  the  Spaniards  was  already  on  the  down  road 
and  had  been  for  a  long  period. '  That  the  Mayas  had  long  passed 
the  zenith  of  their  progress  is  generally  admitted,  and  we  are  not 
entirely  sure  that  the  people  we  know  as  Mayas  were  the  original 
stock  or  only  a  mixture  of  the  original  and  an  inferior,  wilder 
stock  which  mingled  with  them  in  the  days  of  their  decline.  When 
a  stock  declined  or  became  extinct,  other  stocks  from  contiguous 
territory  or  from  farther  off  were  likely  to  come  in  and  possess 
themselves  of  whatever  they  found  that  was  valuable  and  also  be 
come  permanent  residents  of  the  country,  just  as  the  Navajos  took 
up  their  home  in  a  land  that  was  formerly  the  residence  of  a  differ 
ent,  house-building  stock  of  whom  the  Navajos  preserve,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  barely  a  reminiscence.  Berendt  thus  describes  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cintla  :  "  Not  a  single  tradition,  not  a  single 
native  name  survives  to  cast  any  light  upon  these  ruins.  The 
whole  of  this  coast  was  depopulated  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  owing  to  the  slave-hunting  incursions  of  the 
filibusters  and  man-hunters.  The  Indians  who  are  now  found  in 
the  neighbourhood  have  removed  there  from  the  interior  since  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  are  absolutely  ignorant  of 
the  origin  or  builders  of  this  city." 

Not  until  we  are  in  possession  of  historical  data  from  the  Mayas 
themselves,  if  that  happy  time  ever  arrives,  can  we  be  absolutely 
certain  as  to  the  present  descendants. 

"  In  Yucatan,"  says  Brinton,  "  the  books  of  the  Mayas  con 
sisted  of  a  kind  of  paper  made  by  macerating  and  beating  together 
leaves  of  maguey  and  afterwards  sizing  the  surface  with  a  durable 
white  varnish.  The  sheet  was  folded  like  a  screen,  forming  pages 
about  nine  by  five  inches.  Both  sides  were  covered  with  figures 
and  characters  painted  in  various  brilliant  colours.  On  the  outer 
pages  boards  were  fastened  for  protection,  so  the  completed  volume 
had  the  appearance  of  a  bound  book  of  large  octavo  size.  Parch 
ment  was  sometimes  used  instead  of  paper.  It  was  made  of  deer 
skin  cured  and  smoked.  Twenty-seven  rolls  of  such  parchments 
covered  with  hieroglyphics  were  among  the  articles  burned  by 
Bishop  Landa  at  Mani  in  1562."  "  None  of  them,  however,"  re- 
1  See  the  Preface,  p.  vii.,  and  the  last  chapter. 


78  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

marks  Goodman  of  the  Maya  books  that  have  been  found,  <l  can 
be  of  much  assistance  in  solving  Maya  historical  problems,  as  they 
are  all  merely  text-books  explaining  the  meaning  of  signs,  the 
elementary  principles  of  their  respective  calendars  and  certain 
phases  of  lunar,  solar,  and  in  a  few  places,  bissextile  and  chrono 
logical  reckoning.  I  believe  the  figures  usually  supposed  to  repre 
sent  deities  to  be  only  personifications  of  different  periods  or  phases 
of  time,  and  that  most  of  the  glyphs  are  merely  numerals  or  sym 
bols  used  for  the  occasion  in  their  numerative  sense  only." 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  much  of  the  supposed  interpretation 
of  the  Maya  inscriptions  has  had  little  solid  foundation,  has  in 
fact  been  little  better  than  guesswork.  There  was  one  sanguine 
translator  who  was  discovered  to  have  begun  at  the  wrong  end  of 
the  book  !  The  readings  of  the  Maya  inscriptions  sometimes  sug 
gest  that  other  mysterious  operation  of  certain  brilliant  scholars 
of  our  time,  the  discovery  and  reading  of  the  Shakespeare-Baconian 
cipher.  The  lack  of  real  understanding  of  the  Maya  subject  is 
pretty  well  indicated  by  the  various  estimates  of  the  value  of 
Landa's  legacy,  One  author,  Holden,  states  that  it  was  a  positive 
misfortune,  while  Goodman,  after  following  other  lines  for  a  time, 
returns  to  Landa  as  the  only  real  foundation  for  accurate  study. 
There  is  even  yet  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  directions, 
left  to  right  or  up  and  down,  etc.,  in  which  the  works  are  to  be 
read  when  they  are  read.  Apparently  the  first  sensible  thing  to 
be  done  is  to  gather  together  all  that  Landa  wrote  and  reduce  it  to 
a  shape  that  will  place  it  before  the  greatest  number  of  students,  in 
connection  with  specimens  of  every  kind  of  a  mark  or  picture  that 
by  any  possibility  might  have  alphabetic  significance.  A  striking 
peculiarity  of  the  Maya  remains  is  that  there  are  not  found  any  pre 
liminary  or  originating  forms  of  the  glyphs.  "  We  are  compelled 
therefore  to  admit,"  says  Thomas,  "  that  the  origin  of  this  writing 
is  a  mystery  we  are  unable  to  fully  penetrate."  '  It  may  be  that 
the  forms  from  which  it  was  derived  were  recorded  on  skins,  on 
wood,  or  on  bark,  and  in  that  case  they  probably  disappeared  be 
fore  the  beginning  of  the  Maya  decline.  "  A  difference,  it  is 
true,"  says  Thomas,2  "  in  the  forms  and  ornamentation,  and,  to 
a  certain  degree,  an  advance  toward  a  more  perfect  type,  can  be 
traced,  but  no  examples,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  of  the  first 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Introduction  to  Study  of  American  Archcsology,  p.  361. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  343. 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,   Etc.     79 

rude  beginnings  or  the  original  forms  have  been  found.     Some 
comparatively  rude  are  found  painted  on  pottery,  scratched  on 


Peabody  Museum 

FEMALE    HEAD    IN    TRACHYTE 
From  slope  north  of  Temple  22 — Copan.     Slightly  larger  than  life 

shells  or  other  soft  material,  but  these  belong  to  what  may  be 
termed  demotic  writing  and  are  not  primitive  forms.  Comparing 
the  characters  of  the  various  inscriptions  which  have  been  dis- 


So  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

covered  and  those  found  in  the  few  remaining  pre-Columbian 
manuscripts,  the  result  is  as  follows  :  First,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
characters  in  the  manuscripts  have  been  adapted  from  those  of  the 
inscriptions.  In  other  words,  inscriptions  preceded  the  manu 
scripts  ;  hence  we  must  look  to  the  former  for  the  older  forms. 
What  appear  to  the  writer  to  be  the  oldest  forms  of  the  glyphs  yet 
discovered  are  seen  in  those  of  Palenque  and  some  of  the  inscrip 
tions  found  by  Charnay  at  Menche  (Ivorillard  City),  though  others 
discovered  by  him  at  this  same  place  belong  to  the  later  and  more 
ornamental  type,  discovered  in  the  Peten  region,  that  is  those 
carved  in  wood  discovered  by  Bernouilli  at  Tikal,  a  type  also 
found  at  Copan  and  Chichen  Itza,  but  in  none  of  the  inscriptions 
at  Palenque."  For  my  part,  I  cannot  see  that  Thomas-has  exactly 
proved  that  the  manuscripts  were  later  than  the  stone-carved  in 
scriptions,  but  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  so  great  and  his 
methods  so  cautious  that  I  am  glad  to  give  his  statement  in  this 
connection. 

The  Maya  glyphs  probably  developed  out  of  something  like  the 
Mexican  or  Aztec  writing  ;  and  the  step  was  not  a  very  long  one 
from  writing  of  the  character  of  the  Lenape  Walam  Oluni  to  that 
of  the  Aztec,  and  again  it  was  not  a  long  step  from  the  ordinary 
picture-writing  to  the  Walam  Olum,  so  that  it  would  seem  that  in 
these  various  writings  we  have  an  interesting  series  of  steps  from 
the  crudest  attempts  at  records,  nearly,  if  not  quite,  to  the  highest, 
for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  step  from  the  Maya  glyphs 
to  a  true  phonetic  alphabet  would  be  even  shorter  than  any  of  the 
others.  It  is  not  impossible  that  something  of  the  kind  may  yet 
be  discovered.  While  the  Mayas  had  made  little  progress  in  me 
chanical  inventions,  their  progress  in  architecture,  art,  writing, 
and  in  astronomy  is  a  proof  that  they  were  a  thinking  people, 
and,  had  conditions  continued  favourable  to  their  progress,  the 
Spaniards  would  have  found  them  not  easy  to  vanquish.  The 
prominent  and  striking  quality  of  the  calculiform  style  has  had  a 
tendency  to  obscure  the  point  that  there  may  have  been  another 
system  in  vogue,  more  simple,  more  modern,  in  short  purely 
phonetic.  Perfected  phonetic  characters  are  simple  characters  and 
are  likely  not  to  attract  notice,  especially  when  attention  has  been 
fixed  on  other  forms. 

So  far  as  now  understood,  there  is  no  relationship  between  any 
kind  of  Amerindian  writing  and  that  of  other  races.  Like  every- 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,   Etc.     Si 

thing  else  pertaining  to  the  Amerind  people,  the  development 
appears  to  have  been  purely  indigenous.  Le  Plongeon,  however, 
asserts  that  "  abundant  proofs  of  the  intimate  communications 
of  the  ancient  Mayas  with  the  civilised  nations  of  Asia,  Africa, 
and  Europe  are  to  be  found  among  the  remains  of  their  ruined 
cities."  1  The  grounds  accepted  for  this  statement  do  not  seem 
to  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  other  investigators.  Certainly  if  there 
was  any  inter-communication,  it  was  before  the  acquirement  of 
iron-working  in  other  countries,  as  so  far  no  prehistoric  iron  has 
been  found  in  the  ruins  of  Yucatan. 


Field  Columbian  Museum  W.  H.  Holmes 

USUAL    TYPE    OF    SCULPTURED    "YOKES,"    CENTRAL    AMERICA 

15^  inches  long;  14^  inches  wide  ;  thickness,  3^  x  4%  inches 

'Substance:     Dark,  greenish  grey,  very  compact,  chlorite;   surface  well  polished.     Carving  of  a 

frog  or  toad 

After  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  some  of  the  Mayas  soon 
learned  their  alphabet  and  the  missionaries  added,  says  Brinton, 
"  a  sufficient  number  of  signs  to  it  to  express  with  tolerable  ac 
curacy  the  phonetics  of  the'  Maya  tongue.  Relying  on  their 
memories,  and,  no  doubt,  aided  by  some  manuscripts  secretly  pre- 
1  Queen  Moo,  by  A.  Le  Plongeon,  p.  xv. 


82  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

served,  many  natives  set  to  work  to  write  out  in  this  new  alphabet 
the  contents  of  their  ancient  records.  Much  was  added  which 
had  been  brought  in  by  the  Europeans,  and  much  omitted  which 
had  become  unintelligible  or  obsolete  since  the  Conquest,  while  of 
course  the  different  writers  varying  in  skill  and  knowledge  pro 
duced  works  of  very  various  merit.  Nevertheless  each  of  these 
books  bore  the  same  name.  In  whatever  village  it  was  written, 
or  by  whatever  hand,  it  always  was,  and  to-day  still  is,,  called  '  The 
Book  of  Chilan  Balam. '  To  distinguish  them  apart,  the  name  of 
the  village  where  a  copy  was  found  or  written  is  added.  Probably 
in  the  last  century  almost  every  village  had  one,  which  was  treas 
ured  with  superstitious  veneration."  Sixteen  of  these  curious 
books  are  known  to  exist,  but  there  has  never  been  a  complete 
translation  of  any  of  them.  The  following  specimen  is  from  The 
Book  of  Chilan  Balam  of  the  town  of  Mani,  and  is  taken  from 
Brinton's  Chronicles  of  the  Maya.1 

"  Lai  u  tzolan  katun  lukci  ti  cab  ti  yotoch  Nonoual  cante  anilo  Tu- 
tulxiu  ti  chikin  Zuiua  u  luumil  u  talelob  Tulapan  chiconahthan . " 

Translation  :  "  This  is  the  arrangement  of  the  katuns  since  the 
departure  was  made  from  the  land,  from  the  house  Nonoual,  where 
were  the  four  Tutulxiu,  from  Zuiva  at  the  West  :  they  came  from 
the  land  Tulapan,  having  formed  a  league." 

The  strange  title  of  these  books  is  derived  from  that  of  the 
priests  or  shamans,  who  were  believed  to  have  divine  powers.  They 
date  from  1595.  The  Maya  books  at  present  known  are  three, 
one  in  two  parts,  with  these  titles  :  i.  Codex  Tro  or  Troano,  70 
pages,  found  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  at  Madrid  ;  2.  Codex  Cortes- 
ianus?  so  named  because  of  a  belief  that  it  was  brought  to  Europe 
by  Cortes,  also  at  Madrid,  and  believed  to  be  a  part  of  the  Tro- 
ano  ;  3.  Dresden  Codex,  74  pages,  in  the  Royal  Library,  Dresden  ; 
4.  Codex  Peresianus,  22  pages,  the  one  discovered  in  the  Paris 
Bibliotheque  National  by  De  Rosny,  and  given  its  title  from  the 
name  ' '  Perez, ' '  written  on  the  outer  wrapper.  Besides  these  it  has 
been  supposed  that  there  are  several  in  private  hands.  The 
Quiches,  of  Mayan  stock,  had  a  sacred  book  called  the  Popol 
Vuh*  and  the  allied  Cakchiquels  had  their  Records  of  Tecpan 

1  Pp.  95  and  100. 

2  The  "Codex  Cortesianus  is  considered  to  furnish  a  connecting  link 
between  Maya  and  Mexican  symbols." — Powell. 

3  Written  in  1558.     An  abridgment  of  an  older  book. 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,    Etc.     83 

Atitlan.  Other  tribes  or  stocks  of  the  Mexican  region  undoubt 
edly  had  books  and  records  also,  but  in  the  present  state  of 
knowledge  nothing  definite  can  be  said  about  them.  But  there 
was  a  general  high  development  of  all,  or  at  least,  the  majority, 
of  the  stocks  occupying  Mexico  and  Central  America  in  the 
fifteenth  century  and  before,  so  that  it  is  entirely  reasonable  to 
expect  a  considerable  corresponding  development  in  the  line  of 
picture-writing,  hieroglyphs  or  alphabets.  These,  in  some  cases, 
will  come  to  our  knowledge,  just  as  the  new  hieroglyph  attributed 
to  the  Zapotecs  recently  rewarded  the  investigations  of  Saville, 

The  numeral  systems  of  these  people  were  well  developed, 
and  they  were  able  to  make  exact  calculations  in  astronomical, 
and  in  all  other  matters.  The  Aztecs  used  dots  from  one  to  ten, 
or  twenty,  and  then  symbols.  The  Mayas  used  dots  only  to  four, 
and  then  dots  and  lines  to  nineteen,  beyond  which  little  is  known 
of  their  method.  Like  all  the  rest  of  the  Maya  subject,  there  is 
in  this  line  of  investigation  considerable  confusion  and  great  un 
certainty.  The  table  herewith  given  is  a  suggestion  of  a  possible 
line  of  study.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the  method  that  was  followed, 
though  my  arrangement  or  even  the  figures  arc  not  correct. 
I  introduce  it  here,  before  bestowing  upon  it  further  study,  because 
it  may  contain  an  idea  that  will  start  someone  else  on  a  right  track. 
It  has  been  generally  accepted  that  one  dot  •  is  one,  two  dots  •  •  two, 
and  so  on  to  four  •  •  *  *,  after  which  five  was  a  straight  line,  . 

Here  arises  a  question.  Did  the  dots  and  lines  mean  the  same 
when  horizontal  as  when  vertical  ?  They  occur  both  ways  in  the 
inscriptions  and  in  the  manuscripts,  and  Goodman  takes  them  to 

be  the  same.     Vertical  and  horizontal  occur  together  frequently, 
•  •  • 

thus:    \\\(&\  from   PI.   51,   Dresden    Codex.       A  doubt  fills  my 


mind,  however,  on  this  point.  It  is  possible  that  when  vertical 
the  dots  and  lines  had  a  different  meaning.  On  this  assumption, 
the  two,  three,  etc.,  horizontally  placed  would  mean  either  one, 
two,  three,  etc.,  or  some  higher  figures,  leaving  the  vertically 
placed  ones  to  take  their  place  as  one,  two,  three,  etc.  I  assume 
that  the  vertical  ones  were  the  beginning.  The  Maya  system  was 
a  vigesimal  one,  that  is,  a  counting  by  twenties.  Every  new 
twenty,  therefore,  would  be  represented  by  a  new  symbol.  Re 
ferring  to  the  table,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  dots  and  lines  ver 
tically  placed  and  combined  carry  the  table  easily  to  nineteen, 

6 


84  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

that  is,  a  dot  beside  the  five  line  gives  six,  two  five  lines  give  ten, 
three,  fifteen,  while  the  addition  of  the  dots  carries  the  count  quite 
naturally  to  the  nineteen.  It  is  now  necessary  to  adopt  a  sign  for 
twenty,  and  there  have  been  adopted  by  various  authors  as  many 
various  signs,  with  several  variants  in  each  lot.  Once  settle  on  a 
symbol  for  twenty,  and  the  road  is  easy  to  twenty-nine  by  plac 
ing  the  dots  and  lines  horizontally.  Thomas  gives  this  figure 
{^}  for  twenty,1  but  I  do  not  believe  it  is  twenty,  and  for 
convenience  will  adopt  this  *|.  Then  to  get  twenty-one  it  would 

be  simple   for   the  Maya  to  put  a  little   cross  on  each  side  of 

X 
the  dot,  that  is  above  and  below,     • .     This  figure  is  frequent, 

/\ 

c  (• 

and  it  is  varied  sometimes  by  this    •  ,    and  by  this    >; ,  which 

Brinton  assumes  all  to  be  variants  of  twenty.  I  take  it  they 
are  variants  of  twenty-one  and  twenty-two,  or  of  one  and  two. 
Running  down  to  twenty-nine  by  means  of  the  dots  and  lines,  we 
arrive  at  the  necessity  for  a  new  symbol  for  forty,  and  I  take  a 
common  symbol  in  the  inscriptions,  /J .  To  follow  precisely  the 
method  indicated  by  progress  thus  far,  we  would  put  a  dot  in 
side  of  this  for  forty-one,  but  the  Maya  does  not  seem  to  have  done 
this,  but  made  a  slight  change,  perhaps  to  avoid  confusion,  and  he 

put  the  dot  outside  and  to  the  left,  fj  .  Four  of  these  dots 
make  forty-four,  and  then  forty-five  is  represented  by  a  straight 
line  vertically  within.  Dots  now  outside  as  before  carry  to  forty- 
nine,  when  a  vertical  line  replacing  the  dots  gives  fifty.  Adding 
dots  again  as  before  leads  to  fifty-four,  while  doubling  the  lines 
with  the  dots  produces  all  figures  up  to  fifty-nine,  ;|/Q-  Then 
once  more  a  new  character  is  needed  to  go  on,  and  one  is  chosen 
that  is  very  common  in  the  Dresden  Codex,  occurring  in  a  number 
of  different  forms.  It  is  this  <^>  in  its  simple  form.  Thomas 
takes  it  in  this  form  <5g^  for  naught,  and  Forsteman  for  the 
same  numeral  in  this  form  ^3T^.  The  difference  between  these 
two  is  immediately  apparent,  and  it  seems  that  both  these  able  in 
vestigators  have  made  a  mistake  in  this  respect.  It  is  as  if  some 

1  Goodman   gives   these   three    signs    for    20 

remarks,  "the  last  of  the  three  being  drawn  with  a  great  variety  of  detail." 
— Biologia  Central*  Americana,  part  viii.,  p.  64. 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,    Etc.     85 

future  investigator  should  give  as  our  naught  the  figure  6  and 
the  figure  9.  The  simple  form  is  possibly  one  of  the  chief  Maya 
numerals  and  the  enclosed  lines  give  it  the  necessary  differen 
tiation.  Some  change  occurs  again  here,  in  the  system  I  have 
attempted  to  outline.  There  are  used  lines  instead  of  dots, 
though  dots  also  were  used,  and  the  horizontal  line  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  doubled  ;  at  least  I  have  been  unable  to 
find  an  example  of  it,  though,  as  the  number  of  manuscripts  is 
limited,  I  could  hardly  expect  to  find  examples  of  all  the  figures 
in  them.  The  carved  inscriptions  being,  as  is  believed,  older 
than  the  manuscripts,  there  would  be  a  difference  between  the 
numerals  in  them  and  in  the  books.  But  we  will  take  the  simple 
character  <^>  for,  say,  sixty.  It  may  be  mentioned  again  that 
these  selections  and  their  order  are  merely  tentative.  Only  by 
long  study  might  the  matter  be  determined.  Adding  lines  trans 
versely  as  found  in  the  Dresden  Codex,  we  arrive  easily  at 
sixty-four.  Following  the  previous  system,  a  horizontal  line 
with  an  upward  curve  then  gives  ^^^  sixty-five,  and  transverse 
lines  again  take  us  to  sixty-nine.  A  horizontal  line  with  a  down 
curve  produces  seventy  ^^^.  Seventy-four  would  then  be  ^1^, 
and  as  the  horizontal  line  seems  not  to  have  been  doubled  we  are 
forced  to  choose  another  character  for  seventy-five  <^!>.  A 
down  curved  horizontal  line  then  gives  seventy-six  ^~^,  while 
for  seventy-seven  an  entirely  new  form  is  used.  The  reversal  of 
seventy-five  and  seventy -six  carries  to  seventy-nine.  The  cross 
lines  in  some  cases  appear  to  have  been  used  up  to  sixty-seven. 
There  are  so  many  different  figures  of  this  kind  that  it  is  pos 
sible  they  were  used  interchangeably  in  some  cases.  For 
eighty  a  new  figure  is  required,  and  I  have  selected  one  that 
occurs  frequently  in  the  Dresden  book,  in  shape  something  like  a 

bow,  I  .  A  series  of  dots  readily  carries  to  eighty-four,  and 
then  the  substitution  of  a  line  like  a  bow-string  gives  eighty-five 


ij 


The   next  step   at   ninety   would   be   to   double   this   bow 


string,  but  this  seems  not  to  have  been  done,  as  I  can  find  no  ex 
ample  of  it.  But  I  do  find  a  differentiation  in  another  way, 
probably  because  in  this  figure  doubling  the  string  would  be 
clumsy.  The  difference  is  made  by  a  rider  on  the  string,  and  there 


3 
V 

S 

(, 

1 
6 
9 

fO 

II 
/2. 
'3 
V 

>s- 

flo 

| 
4 

'7 
/fr 


I 
II 

II 


:ll 

ill 


23 


^5" 

1<c 


3/ 


33 


«  -|IO 


s  ^:IIO 

•••  •iir'N 

=  «:||0     ^ 

=  ^illO   « 


From  drawing  by  the  author 

A    SUGGESTION    OF    THE    POSSIBLE    SCHEME   OK    MAYA    NUMERALS.       WHOLLY 

TENTATIVE 

Founded  on  figures  in  the  codices  and  on  tablets 
86 


Mexican  and  Central-American  Writing,   Etc.     87 


are  two  kinds  of  rider,  one  a  point  or  triangle,  and  the  other  a 
double  square.     Taking  one  of  these  riders  for  ninety,  and  then 

the  dots  beside  it,  we  find  ourselves  at  ninety-four  f|.     Then  with 
the  other  rider  on  the  string  for  ninety-five  we  arrive  by  means  of 


the  dots  at  ninety-nine 


Then  comes  a  demand  for  a  character 


for  one  hundred,  and  this  appears  to  have  been  merely  a  circle.  A 
dot  beside  it  would  give  101,  and  so  on  by  adding,  out  or  in,  the 
various  symbols  199  is  reached.  To  get  to  299  it  is  only  nec 
essary  to  add  another  circle.  For  500  some  other  symbol  must 
be  adopted,  and  the  apparent  one  is  a  sort  of  circle  with  a  kind  of 
scarf  knot  at  the  top,  or  perhaps  it  can  be  described  as  a  knotted 


scarf, 


Taking  this  as  500   we  can    easily  arrive 


at  599.     An  extra  circle  within  will  then  carry  to 


and  so  on  by  adding  circles  up  to  1000.  Thomas  in  one  of  his  ad 
mirable  discussions  of  Maya  writing  '  is  puzzled  by  what  he  terms 
ornamental  loops  around  some  of  the  numerals,  but  if  the  line  I 
have  indicated  here  has  any  sense  in  it  these  ornamental  loops 
would  be  602,  604,  etc.,  or  some  other  numbers  depending  on  the 
proper  place  for  this  symbol  in  the  general  scheme.  The  series  of 
"  loops  "  mentioned  by  Thomas  is  this: 


Something  might  be  determined  by  a  comparison  of  these  sym 
bols  with  the  known  names  of  numbers.     The  Mayas  counted  into 
the  millions,  so  they  must  have  had  a  perfected  system. 
1  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  337. 


U.  s.  BU.  Eth. 


OMAHA    CALUMET 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

OMAHA    WAR    CLUB 


CHAPTER  V 

BASKETRY    AND    POTTERY 

ALMOST  every  tribe  the  world  round  seems  to  have  acquired 
at  a  very  early  stage  in  its  progress  a  knowledge  of  plaiting 
rushes,  strips  of  bark,  or  other  simple  substances,  for  use 
as  beds,  covering  of  shelters,  etc.,  and  in  this  knowledge  may  be 
discovered  the  beginnings  of  several  arts  of  the  first  importance 
to  man  :  basketry,  weaving,  and  pottery.  Basketry  and  pottery 
are  mother  and  daughter.  Plaiting  together  straws  or  rushes  was 
a  simple  operation  and  must  have  occurred  to  the  most  primitive 
tribes  spontaneously  as  the  need  for  some  such  thing  arose.  Hav 
ing  produced  a  mat  and  used  it  for  various  purposes,  the  turning 
up  of  the  sides,  or  edges,  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  things  upon 
it,  thereby  producing  a  shallow  basket  or  tray,  was  an  easy  step, 
and  by  such  stages  did  basketry  grow  to  perfection.1  The  Ame 
rinds  excelled  particularly  in  this  art,  and  there  were  few  tribes 
without  ability  to  make  baskets  and  other  wicker-work,  the  char 
acter  and  excellence  of  which  depended  to  a  considerable  extent 
on  the  material  available. 

Wicker  jugs,  rendered  water-tight  by  means  of  pitch,  were  in 
vented  and  used  for  cookery,  hot  stones  being  introduced  through 
the  wide  mouth,  to  bring  the  contents  to  the  required  temperature, 
and  it  was  the  effort  to  protect  the  basketry  used  in  the  various 
culinary  operations  from  the  effects  of  the  heat  that  led  to  coatings 
of  mud  or  clay,  which  being  hardened  by  the  fire,  disclosed  the 
1  If  a  small  mat  is  tightly  plaited  out  of  fine  materials  its  edges  will  turn 
up  naturally,  and  it  will  be  dish-like  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  keep  it  flat. 

88 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


great  secret.  There  is  still  in  use  among  some  of  the  more  primi 
tive  tribes  of  America  a  "  boiling-basket,"  that  is,  a  wicker  jug 
rendered  water- proof,  and  in  which  food  is  cooked  as  indicated. 
In  Zuni  this  basket  was  known  as  a  "  coiled  cooking  basket,"  and 


NORTH-WEST    COAST    FEATHER    ORNAMENTATION    ON    BASKETS 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
ESKIMO    BAG-BASKET, 


MOKI    WICKER    WATER-JUG 
Similar  to  boiling-basket 


the  corrugated  earthen  pot  used  to  this  day  is  called  a  "  coiled 
earthenware  cooking  basket."  And  the  Navajos  still  call  earthen 
ware  pots,  "  kle-it-tsa  "  or  mud-basket.  In  these  terms  is  seen  a 
clear  indication  of  the  origin  of  pottery  among  the  Amerinds  in 
basketry.  Gushing  found  these  boiling-baskets  in  use  a  few  years 


9o 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


ago  among  the  Havasupai,  who  live  an  isolated  life  in  northern 
Arizona,  and  I  saw  similar  jugs  among  the  Amerinds  of  Utah 
twenty  years  ago,  and  some  more  recently  among  the  Moki,  the 
latter,  however,  not  using  them  for  boiling  purposes,  and  perhaps 
not  being  the  makers  of  them.  They  are  bottle-shaped,  but  with 
wide  mouths,  and  provided  near  their  rims  with  a  sort  of  cord  or 
strap  for  a  handle  attached  to  two  loops  or  eyes.  In  some  of  the 
pots  derived  from  this  form  these  loops  are  represented  by  little 
knobs  of  clay,  or  by  an  ornament. 

Gushing  describes  the  Havasupai  in  Arizona  as  using  a  wicker 

tray  lined  with 
clay  for  the  pur 
pose  of  roasting 
or  parching 
seeds,  and  this 
was  probably 
used  by  all  prim 
itive  peoples. 
The  seeds  were 
placed  on  the 
clay  -  lined  tray 
and  agitated 
with  live  coals. 
Naturally  the 
clay  is  hardened 
by  the  heat  of  the 

coals,  and  would  be  sure  to  suggest  the  making  of  utensils  from  it  by 
means  of  fire.  The  turning  up  of  the  edges  would  follow  the  use 
of  the  first  trays  made  of  clay,  in  imitation  of  wicker  bowls,  and  so 
would  other  forms  of  basketry  be  imitated,  as  well  as  forms  in  horn, 
wood  or  shell.  Perhaps  the  wicker  jugs  may  have  been  coated 
with  clay  on  the  outside  for  protection,  and  eventually  the  heat 
not  only  baked  the  clay  but  destroyed  the  wicker  framework  that 
had  supported  it.  Thus  jugs  of  clay  may  have  been  made  by 
burning  away  the  framework  every  time,  just  as  Lamb's  discov 
erer  of  roast  pig  could  find  no  other  way  of  securing  his  toothsome 
morsel  than  that  of  burning  down  the  house.  Or  the  jar  may 
have  been  modelled  on  the  inside  and  then  the  wicker  burned 
off.  When  we  speak  contemptuously  of  primitive  peoples  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  they  were  inventors  as  well  as  ourselves. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

HAVASUPAI    CLAY-LINED    ROASTING   TRAY 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


91 


When  the  art  of  pottery  was  discovered  basketry  remained 
in  use,  for  pottery  could  not  take  its  place  in  many  uses  then 
any  more  than  it  can  to-day.  The  environment  and  habits  of  a 
tribe  controlled  the  amount,  the  quality,  the  character,  of  both 
basketry  and  pottery.  A  tribe  possessing  plenty  of  good  clay 
would  make  more  and  better  pottery  than  one  finding  clay  difficult 
to  acquire,  provided  both  had  reached  the  same  degree  of  pro 
ficiency  in  this  art,  but  mere  abundance  of  good  clay  would  not 
necessarily  make  skilful  potters  ;  that  is,  the  degree  of  progress  in 
culture  of  a  tribe  and  other  factors  of  environment  than  the  presence 
or  absence  of  good  clay  in  quantity  had  much  to  do  with  pottery  - 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

IROQUOIS    BIRCHBARK    VESSEL 


NORTH-WEST    COAST  BASKET, 


making.  For  example,  the  Pueblos  and  the  Navajos  occupy  the 
same  kind  of  a  region,  or  rather  the  same  region,  with  plenty  of 
clay  and  a  similar  abundance  of  yucca,  willows,  etc.,  for  basketry, 
yet  the  Pueblos  carried  pottery-making  to  a  high  degree  of  excel 
lence,  while  the  Navajos  produced  only  a  limited  amount  of  inferior 
ware.'  Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  intelligence,  for  the  Navajos  are  as 
intelligent  as  any  Amerinds  living,  and  besides,  as  has  been  men 
tioned,  probably  have  a  strong  infusion  of  Pueblo  blood.  While 
the  Navajos  have  gone  farther  in  silver-  and  iron-smithing,  they 
have  lagged  behind  in  pottery  and  house-building.  So  it  is  also 
with  basketry.  While  the  Pueblos  no  longer  make  boiling-baskets 
or  jugs,  or  at  least,  if  they  do  occasionally  make  them,  they  do  not 
use  them  for  cooking  purposes,  yet  they  produce  some  fine  trays 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


and  bowls.1  Inclination  and  fancy,  as  well  as  necessity,  have 
much  to  do  with  the  development  of  the  arts.  Tribes  might 
attain  a  wonderful  development  politically,  like  the  Iroquois,  and 
yet  possess  hardly  any  proficiency  in  any  art,  while  others,  like 
the  Navajos,  with  scarcely  any  political  development,  possess 
"high  artistic  skill  in  weaving  and  metal-working,  but  none  in 
pottery.  Great  in  war  and  government  the  Iroquois  certainly 
were,  but  they  had  not  reached  the  border  line  of  artistic  develop 
ment.  Neither  weavers,  potters,  nor  builders  were  they  (though 

Bandelier  main 
tains  that  their 
long-house  was  as 
difficult  of  con 
struction  as  any 
house  the  Pueblos 
build),  and,  out 
side  of  the  idea  of 
the  league,  their 
government  was 
not  much  superior 
to  that  of  the 
Pueblos.  Their 
potter}-,  limited  in 
quantity,  was 
very  inferior  t  o 
that  of  many 
other  Amerinds. 
It  is  probable  that 
following  the  line 
of  race  develop 
ment  they  would  eventually  have  produced  excellent  ware,  but  the 
iron  pot  made  its  appearance  and  progress  in  pottery  was  doomed. 
On  the  North-west  coast  little  or  no  pottery  is  found.  Quality 
and  quantity  increase  as  we  approach  Yucatan. 

Tribes  with  unfavourable  environment  would  find  it  next  to 
impossible  to  acquire  skill  in  pottery.  The  Eskimo,  with  a  tem 
perature  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  near  or  below  freezing, 

1  See  the  American  Anthropologist,  April,  1894,  vol.  vii.,  "The  Basket 
Drum,"  by  Washington  Matthews,  as  an  illustration  of  how  a  certain 
specialty  in  an  art  may  survive  after  the  art  itself  is  neglected. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MCCLOUD  RIVER  BASKET,  CALIFORNIA 


MOKI    FOOD    BASKET 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


KLAMATH    BASKET. 
93 


94  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

and  a  scarcity  of  fuel,  would  find  moulding  forms  out  of  wet  clay 
about  the  last  occupation  to  think  of.  The  Eskimo,  therefore, 
made  almost  nothing  of  clay  except  occasionally  a  lamp.1  The 
Kutchins  of  the  Yukon  country  make  pots  and  cups  of  clay,  but 
in  the  main  the  Far  Northern  people  rely  on  basketry,  soapstone, 
and  on  metallic  vessels  obtained  from  the  whites.  Nor  is  the 
North  land  entirely  favourable  to  basketry,  yet  the  Aleut  basket- 
work  is  exceedingly  fine  in  texture,  some  of  their  productions 
being  almost  a  cloth.  This  is  specially  true  of  baskets  made  on 
the  island  of  Attu  of  the  Aleutian  chain.  These  are  usually 
cylindrical,  sometimes  fitted  with  a  cover  of  the  same  material. 
So  soft  and  pliable  are  they  that  they  can  barely  sustain  an  upright 
position.  This  fine  texture  is  a  characteristic  of  all  the  basketry 
of  the  North-west  coast,  but  there  is  not  much  variety  in  form  and 
the  artistic  shapes  so  common  with  the  Amerinds  southward  of  the 
Columbia  are  absent.  The  decorations  are  similar  to  those  of  other 
Amerinds  and  are  woven  in  with  quills,  grasses,  feathers,  bits  of 
silk,  or  worsteds,  apropriately  coloured.  In  the  interior  of  the 
Northern  lands,  the  Kniks  and  others  make  a  substitute  for 
baskets  out  of  thin  boards  steamed  and  bent  around  a  flat  bottom 
piece  which  fits  into  a  groove  in  the  board.  It  is  fastened  in  place 
with  split  roots  or  skin  thongs.  Among  the  Eskimo  sealskin 
cups  and  buckets  are  used,  and  some  made  of  whalebone,  but 
they  also  make  a  basket  out  of  coiled  grasses,  which  is  artistic 
and  has  a  variety  of  interesting  forms.  East  of  Point  Barrow 
baskets  are  rare.  Birchbark  vessels  of  various  kinds  were  used 
by  many  tribes  as  substitutes  for  baskets,  and  doubtless  some 
forms  in  pottery  were  derived  from  these  vessels  as  well  as  from 
baskets.  Some  tribes  made  pottery  and  then,  as  circumstances 
changed,  they  abandoned  its  use  and  finally  forgot  how  to  make  it. 
Dorsey  states  that  "  pottery  has  not  been  made  by  the  Omaha 
for  more  than  fifty  years.  The  art  of  making  it  has  been  for 
gotten  by  the  tribe."  a 

Various  conditions  might  cause  a  tribe  to  cease  making  pot 
tery,  if  it  were  not  a  sedentary  tribe.  One  constantly  on  the  move 
would  either  never  learn  to  make  pottery,  or  if,  during  some  seden 
tary  period,  it  had  acquired  this  art  it  would  soon  drop  it,  because 

1  Murdoch  found  fragments  of  a  cooking  pot  at  Point  Barrow. — Ninth 
Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  91.     Rude  cups  were  also  sometimes  made. 
8  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  276. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


MOKI    FLOOR    MAT. 
95 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


in   primitive  travel  basketry  and   gourds  are  lighter  and  more 
serviceable  than  the  crude  pottery  they  could  produce.     Thus  if 

a  tribe  living  a  com- 
paratively  quiet  life 
and  developing  the 
potter's  art  came  into 
possession  of  the 
horse,  the  pottery 
might  be  abandoned 
because  it  could  not 
readily  be  transported. 
This  would  apply  only 
to  tribes  making  rude 
pottery,  for  where  a 
people  had  attained 

great  proficiency  in  this  direction  they  would  not  give  it  up, 
except,  as  in  the  case  of  Taos,  they  could  purchase  nearby  a 
sufficient  supply.  Proficiency  would  only  accompany  a  sedentary 
life,  so  that  great  skill  in  pottery  would  be  a  rather  sure  index  of 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    WHALEBONE    DISH 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


CLALLAM  BASKET,  WASHINGTON. 


the  character  and  progress  of  a  people  in  other  directions.     While 
a  people  might  achieve  progress  without  doing  much  in  pottery, 


APACHE    BASKET. 


PAI    UTE   WATER-JUG. 


KLAMATH    BASKE1 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKI    FOOD    TRAY. 


AMERIND    WICKER-WORK 


98  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

if  they  did  excel  in  pottery  it  would  be  an  indication  of  excellence 
in  other  lines.  Pottery  is  well-nigh  imperishable,  and  therefore  it 
is  often  the  chief  record  that  a  departed  people  has  left  behind. 
Where  almost  every  other  distinguishing  vestige  has  completely 
disappeared,  we  may  frequently  still  discover  scattered  on  the  sur 
face  fragments  of  pottery,  or  buried  in  the  soil  complete  specimens, 
which  by  their  form,  texture,  or  decorative  treatment  tell  what 
manner  of  people  these  were  who  lived  their  lives  and  passed  away; 
tell  the  limits  of  their  distribution,  and  also  to  what  other  tribes  or 
people  they  were  related.  Pottery  therefore,  next  to  actual  records 
and  inscriptions,  is  probably  the  most  valuable  as  well  as  often 
the  only  kind  of  remains,  that  a  race  has  left. 

European  pottery  has  long  received  close  attention  from  archae 
ologists,  but  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  it  has  been  thought 
worth  while  to  study  that  of  the  Western  continent.  Like  the 
other  remains  of  the  Amerinds,  their  pottery  was  not  considered  of 
much  importance  by  archaeologists,  and  while  American  money 
and  talent  were  being  bestowed  upon  the  well-worked  European 
field,  our  Amerind  pottery  was  abandoned  to  the  curiosity  hunter. 
The  artistic  qualities  of  the  Old  World  pottery  fascinated  the 
student,  and  this,  together  with  a  natural  deep  interest  in  peoples 
closely  associated  with  our  own  past,  served  to  obscure  the  real 
value  of  an  investigation  of  the  Amerind  field  for  the  information 
that  might  be  disclosed  concerning  the  character  and  distribution 
of  Amerind  tribes,  for  its  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  ceramic  art 
in  general,  as  well  as  for  its  story  of  primitive  effort  and  invention. 
Pottery  is  said  to  have  been  invented  2698  years  B.C.  by  the 
Chinese  emperor  Hoang-ti,  but  of  course  it  was  made  by  some 
tribes  long  before  this.  Like  every  other  art,  it  existed  among 
some  tribes,  while  other  tribes  had  no  knowledge  of  it.  There 
was  never  a  time,  and  there  never  will  be  a  time, when  all  people 
possess  an  equal  degree  of  information  or  skill,  so  that  when 
something  has  been  invented  or  discovered  by  one  tribe  or  people 
it  may  have  been  in  use  for  a  long  period  by  another.  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Columbian  era,  most  of  the  Amerinds  knew  how  to 
make  some  kind  of  earthenware.  Various  methods  were  used 
in  various  places  to  produce  the  pottery.  Some  was  modelled  in 
baskets  or  on  basket  forms,  right  side  up  or  up  side  down  as  hap 
pened  to  be  necessary,  some  was  modelled  in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  or 
in  the  lap,  and  still  other  groups  were  produced  by  coiling  round 


Basketry  and   Pottery  99 

and  round  slender  ropes  of  clay,  which  were  afterwards  smoothed 
off  or  not  as  suited  the  knowledge  or  desire  of  the  potter.  The  pro 
gression  in  a  general  way  was  probably  about  this  :  i.  Made  on  the 
inside  of  a  wicker  form — confined  chiefly  to  bowls  ;  2.  Made  on  a 
netting  in  a  mould  hole  ;  3.  Coil-made  ;  4.  Free-hand  modelling  ; 
5.  Wheel-made,  which  Amerinds  appear  never  to  have  attained. 
There  was  doubtless  no  sharp  line  of  separation  between  these 
various  processes,  but  they  merged  into  each  other.  The  coil 
process  was  about  the  highest  development  of  the  Amerind 
potter's  skill,  and  it  was  in  use  all  over  the  continent.  As 
Holmes  points  out  in  his  admirable  paper,1  the  Pueblos  are  the 
only  people  who  used  the  coil  as  a  means  of  decoration  as  well 
as  construction,  so  far  as  now  known.  All  the  other  potters 
smoothed  the  coils  off  so  that  no  trace  eventually  was  left  of 
them,  and  this  is  the  practice  of  the  modern  Moki  potters. 
They  work  by  no  special  rule.  According  to  my  own  observation, 
the  making  of  pottery  is  a  desultory  occupation  and  is  done  by  the 
women.  Sometimes  I  saw  a  woman  toiling  alone  with  her  ropes 
of  clay,  out-of-doors,  and  again  several  women  would  form  a  gay, 
laughing  party  in  the  sunlight.  When  the  work  is  dry  the  paint 
ing  and  decorating  are  done  by  means  of  a  little,  long,  string-like 
brush  made  of  yucca  fibre.  This  brush  is  like  a  piece  of  coarse 
twine,  about  three  inches  long,  without  a  handle,  very  limber,  and 
apparently  entirely  inadequate,  yet  they  easily  accomplished  all 
they  desired  to  do  with  it.  In  order  to  turn  the  work  while  in 
process  of  manufacture,  and  not  injure  it  or  destroy  its  shape,  it  is 
generally  built  upon  a  wicker  tray.  In  this  way  it  can  be  readily 
swung  round  and  round,  as  the  potter  pays  out  the  clay  rope  and 
adjusts  it  in  place.  This  is  the  nearest  approach  to  the  potter's 
wheel  that  seems  ever  to  have  been  known  on  the  American  conti 
nent.  While  many  shapes  are  based  on  some  form  in  basketry,  or 
wood,  or  horn,  or  shell,  or  bark,  a  great  many  are  pure  inventions, 
the  result  of  fancy  or  inclination. 

In  preparing  the  clay,  sand  or  pulverised  potsherds  were  mixed 
with  it  to  temper  it  and  prevent  cracking.  This  was  sometimes  so 
coarse  and  abundant  in  the  old  pottery  that  in  the  fragments 
picked  up  one  can  frequently  see  large  grains  of  sand. 

All  pottery  of  primitive  races  belongs  to  the  class  known  as  soft 

1  W.  H.  Holmes,  Fourth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  "Pottery  of  the  Ancient 
Pueblos." 


ioo  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

pottery,  as  distinguished  from  what  we  call  stoneware  or  hard 
pottery  in  its  different  forms.  The  Amerinds  were  no  exception, 
and  all  their  pottery  is  soft  unglazed  ware.1  The  reason  for  this 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  making  of  hard  pottery  requires  not  only 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  poperties  of  clay,  but,  what  is  more, 
a  temperature  for  firing  of  about  4000°  Fahrenheit, — a  temperature 
which  can  be  obtained  only  in  a  furnace  or  retort,  of  which  Ame 
rinds  were  apparently  ignorant,  their  pottery  being  burned,  in 


From  photo  by  the  author,  1884 
MODELLING    AN    OLLA    AT    HANO 

The  potter  was  not  aware  of  being 
photographed 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

METHOD  OF  BUILDING  UP  COIL 


historic  and  prehistoric  times,  in  the  open  air.  The  common 
modern  method  among  the  Pueblos  is  to  burn  with  sheep  dung, 
but  they  are  said  to  have  used  in  ancient  times  deadwood,  common 
wood,  and  coal.  The  method  was  usually  the  same  in  all  cases  ; 
the  ware  was  piled  up  and  then  covered  with  the  fuel  in  such  a 
manner  that  there  would  be  as  little  as  possible  direct  contact. 
They  also  sometimes  baked  the  ware  in  hot  ashes  with  a  fire 

1  The  Amerind  paste  was  generally  quite  dark,  a  light  surface  colour 
being  obtained  by  a  "  slip."  But  I  have  found  fragments  of  a  pinkish-white 
ware  in  Arizona  the  same  colour  all  the  way  through. 


Basketry  and   Pottery  101 

above,  and  sometimes  they  dug  a  pit  which  they  lined  with  the 
fuel.  A  rich  shiny  black  ware  was  obtained  in  some  localities  by 
allowing  the  ware  to  come  in  contact  with  the  fuel  and,  at  a  certain 
period  in  the  burning,  smothering  the  fire.  This  produced  an 
apparent  glaze  as  well,  an  effect  obtained  also  by  rubbing  and 
polishing  before  the  firing.  But  there  is  no  true  glazing  in  any 
Amerind  ware,  at  least  not  north  of  Mexico.  Even  had  they 
known  the  process  they  would  have  been  baffled  in  attempting  to 
put  it  in  practice,  for  glazing  requires  a  temperature  of  at  least 
1300°  Fahrenheit,  and  they  apparently  had  no  means  of  securing 
it.1  All  of  their  ware  can  be  scratched  with  a  knife,  which  is  a 
test  of  soft  ware,  and  while  some  of  it  seems  to  have  lustre,  it  is 
the  lustre  of  polish,  not  of  glaze.  Some  ware,  however,  recently 
found  in  the  Central- American  region  appears  to  have  a  true  glaze. 
Some  tribes  make  a  variety  of  kinds  of  ware,  while  others  confine 
themselves  to  some  special  kind,  and  still  others,  as  mentioned  in 
the  case  of  Taos,  buy  all  they  use  and  make  none.  The  Pueblos 
to-day  are  extensive  potters,  especially  the  Zufiis  and  the  Mokis, 
and  produce  large  quantities  of  varied  ware,  which,  while  similar 
in  many  respects  to  that  of  the  ancients  of  the  region,  is  not  so 
fine  nor  so  well  formed.  At  the  Chaco  ruins  Pepper  found  a 
number  of  tube-shaped  vases,  about  four  inches  diameter  and  a 
foot  high,  with  four  small  perforated  handles.  In  the  course 
of  time  enormous  quantities  must  have  been  made  in  the  South 
west,  for  the  ground  is  everywhere  strewn  with  fragments  of  it. 
This  would  indicate  either  a  dense  population  or  a  very  long 
occupation  by  a  comparatively  sparse  one,  and  thus  far  the  evi 
dence  is  in  favour  of  the  latter  hypothesis.  In  such  a  dry  climate 
as  exists  in  the  South-west,  even  soft  pottery  is  almost  indestruct 
ible  when  not  exposed  to  river  or  ice  action.  In  such  cases  it 
would  soon  be  destroyed.  Though  the  Colorado  River  runs 
through  the  length  of  the  ancient  Pueblo  country,  and  receives 
many  branches  whose  valleys,  like  its  own,  reveal  myriads  of 
fragments,  I  never  found  a  specimen  in  the  river  gravels.  If 
this  is  the  case,  how  could  we  expect  to  find  remains  of  pottery  in 
glacial  drift  ? 

Another  kind  of  pottery  has  lately  been  found  by  Lumholtz  at 
Teuchitlan,  State  of  Jalisco,  Mexico.     It  is  a  sort  of  cloisonne, 

1  The  earthenware  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  was  not  glazed,  but  cov 
ered  with  wax,  bitumen,  etc. 


102  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

apparently  made  by  firing  the  plain  ware  and  then  applying  a 
thick  slip  which,  when  dry,  was  engraved  with  a  pattern  down  to 

the  baked  surface. 
The  parts  cut 
away  were  then 
smoothly  filled  in 
with  a  white  paste 
and  with  paste  of 
other  colours,  pro 
ducing  some  ex 
cellent  effects. 
Another  firing 
then  fixed  the  su 
perimposed  paste. 
There  are  nu 
merous  specimens 
in  the  American 
Museum. 

yz  The  valley  of 

the  Mississippi  is 
as  prolific  in  its  yield  of  pottery  as  the  South-west,  though  most  of  it 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

WARE    FROM    MOKI    REGION,    ARIZONA. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

WARE    FROM    MOKI    REGION,    ARIZONA. 


is  found  in  mounds.    It  has  therefore  been  attributed  to  a  departed 
and  mysterious  race  which  has  been  called    "  Moundbuilder." 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


103 


CUP    FROM    ARIZONA. 


These  mounds,  however,  were  clearly  the  work  of  different  tribes 
and  were  erected  for  different  purposes,  and  there  is  no  evidence  to 
show  that  the  build 
ers  were  not  Ame 
rinds,  similar  to 
tribes  that  were  en 
countered  by  our 
people.  True,  some 
of  these  tribes  or 
stocks  may  have  be 
come  extinct  before 
whites  entered  the 
region,  for  tribes 
rose  to  power,  dwin 
dled,  and  disap 
peared,  but  that  does 
not  prove  that  they 
were  anything  but 
Amerinds,  even 
though  they  may  have  developed  qualities  and  arts  not  practised 
by  Amerinds  we  have  known.  That  there  are  some  marked  differ 
ences  between 
some  of  the  so- 
called  Mound- 
builder  ware  and 
some  other  Ame 
rind  pottery  is 
freely  admitted, 
but  why  this 
should  indicate 
that  there  was 
any  mystery 
about  the  former 
is  not  intelli 
gible,  for  there 
are  many  differ- 

VASE     FROM     ARKANSAS,    SHOWING    LINES     MADE    WITH    A          ences  jn  the  prO- 
SHARP   PO!NT    BEFORE    FIRING.       %  dUCtS  of  existing 

tribes  and  stocks.1     As   has  been    mentioned,    the   Pueblos  are 
1  With  all  the  differences,  however,  an  examination  of  pottery  from 


IO4  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

extremely  good  potters,  while  their  neighbours  the  Navajos 
practically  are  no  potters  at  all.  Had  the  Pueblos  become  ex 
tinct  before  the  appearance  of  the  European,  what  a  fine  chance 
this  would  have  been  to  speculate  on  who  these  mysterious 
and  departed  people  were  who  built  superior  houses  of  stone  and 
made  splendid  pottery  !  Oh  no,  they  could  never  have  been  com 
mon  "  Indians,"  they  must  have  been  a  migration  from  China,  or 
Japan  !  Unfortunately  for  writers  of  the  romantic  school,  the 
Pueblo  is  still  there,  and  he  is  an  ordinary  Amerind,  in  some  ways 
hardly  as  intelligent  as  his  neighbour  who  makes  no  pottery  and 
builds  no  houses.  There  is  no  reason,  then,  for  assuming  that 
there  was  anything  extraordinary  about  any  of  the  former  occu 
pants  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  They  were,  at  least  some  of  them 
were,  skilful  potters,  and  some  had  sense  enough  to  dig  out  copper 
and  hammer  it  into  shapes  ;  but  what  is  there  in  this  that  should 
lead  us  to  exalt  them  above  other  Amerinds  ?  Progress  in  the  arts 
may  vary  among  associated  stocks,  and  also  among  different 
branches  of  the  same  stock.  In  the  Mississippi-valley  pottery 
there  was  a  tendency  toward  upright  bottle-shaped  vessels  with 
long  necks,  while  the  tendency  of  the  Pueblo  ware  is  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  bowl.  There  are  also  long  tray-like  vessels  in  the  Mis 
sissippi  valley,  which  do  not  occur  at  all  amongst  the  Pueblo  ware, 
and  there  are  more  animal  shapes,  birds,  etc.  A  series  of  the 
Mississippi-valley  forms  suggests  a  knowledge  of  the  wheel,  but 
it  is  not  likely  that  they  had  it,  though  it  is  possible.  Anyone 
who  has  watched  the  progress  of  a  common  jug  turning  on  one  of 
our  potter's  wheels,  must  be  struck  by  the  series  of  fine  shapes  the 
lump  of  clay  passes  through  before  assuming  its  last  form.  Such 
a  progression  appears  in  the  Mississippi  valley  ware,  but  these 
jars  were  all  probably  made  by  the  "  coil  "  process,  which  was 
still  in  use  in  the  Mississippi  valley  after  the  advent  of  our  people. 
Holmes  states  positively  :  "  The  wheel  or  lathe  has  not  been 
used."  '  The  pottery  of  Chiriqui,  a  province  near  Panama,  is  re 
markable  for  perfection  of  finish  and  execution  and  a  similar 
suggestion  of  mechanical  aids.  In  this  case  Holmes  says  :  "  Not 
withstanding  the  fact  that  only  primitive  methods  were  known, 

all  over  North  America  will  convince  auy  close  observer  of  its  general 
homogeneity. 

1  W.  H.  Holmes,  "Ancient  Pottery  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  Fourth 
Ann.  Rept.  Hu.  Eth.,  p.  372. 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


105 


there  is  a  parallelism  with  wheel-made  ware  that  cannot  but 
strike  the  student  with  amazement.  So  great  is  the  symmetry 
and  so  graceful  are  the  shapes  that  one  is  led  to  suspect  the  em 
ployment  of  mechanical  devices  of  a  high  order."  ' 

The  high-necked  Mound- 
builder  bottle  is  rarely  found 
in  other  parts  of  the  United 
States,  but  it  occurs  in  Mexico 
and  in  South  America.  Ladles, 
common  in  Pueblo  ware,  are 
of  rare  occurrence  in  that 
of  the  Moundbuilders,  while 
rectangular  box -like  vessels 
are  found,  which,  though  rare, 
are  of  wide  distribution.  One 
remarkable  object  found  in 
Tennessee  is  an  earthenware 
burial  casket  formed  of 
two  parts,  a  body  and 
a  lid,  and  it  still 
bears  marks  of 
the  baking. 
It  contains 
the  remains  of 
a  small  child, 
reduced  to 
dust,  except 
por  t  i  o  n  s  of 
the  skull  and 
limbs  ;  and 
two  or  three 
dozen  small 
shell  beads.  It 
weighs  alto 
gether  i2j  pounds.  Another  peculiar  vessel  was  shaped  like  a  shal 
low  trough,  with  a  flat  lip  or  projection  at  each  end.  While  there 
was  undoubtedly  in  all  tribes  a  certain  progression  of  forms  based  on 
those  of  basketry,  etc. ,  as  before  noted,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 

1  W.  H.  Holmes,  "  Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,"  Sixth  Ann. 
Kept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  56. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

BOTTLE- SHAPED    VASE,    ARKANSAS. 


io6  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  Amerind,  like  all  other  human  beings,  did  some  things  from  pure 
inspiration  or  invention  and  with  no  previous  model  of  any  kind. 
The  Mississippi  valley,  according  to  Holmes,  may  be  divided 
into  three  districts  as  far  as  the  pottery  is  concerned  :  the  upper, 
the  middle,  and  the  lower  districts.  This  would  seem  to  indicate 
as  many  different  tribes  or  stocks,  or  even  different  periods  of 
occupancy  by  either  the  same  stock  or  by  different  stocks.  The 
most  northerly  examples  are  the  rudest  and  most  different  from 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

EARTHEN    WARE    BURIAL    CASKET,    TENNESSEE.       # 

the  others.  Some  of  the  pottery  that  is  advanced  as  showing  a 
skill  in  sculpture  not  possessed  by  Amerinds  of  the  North  can  be 
explained  in  another  way  than  by  assuming  that  the  makers 
were  different  from  other  Amerinds  of  the  Mississippi  valley  as  we 
have  known  them.  As  I  pointed  out  elsewhere, '  these  head-shaped 
vases  are  death-masks.2  It  does  not  require  a  second  look  at  the 

1 F.  S.   Dellenbaugh,    "Death-Masks   in    Ancient  American    Pottery," 
American  Anthropologist,  February,  1897. 

2  In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Swallow  found  a  human 


Basketry  and  Pottery 


107 


illustration  below  to  see  that  the  features  are  those  of  death  re 
produced  in  a  manner  that  no  aboriginal  potter  could  possibly 
accomplish  by  free-hand  method.  "  Here  we  look  on  a  face  per 
fect  in  its  proportions,  accurately  modelled,  and,  above  all,  de 
picting  death  with  a  master-hand  ;  yes,  more,  presenting  to  the 
spectator  death  itself  as  it  seized  this  personage  in  the  long-for 
gotten  past.  Here  is  death  present  with  us  as  plainly  as  it  is  in 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


DEATH-MASK    VASE,    TENNESSEE. 


the  well-preserved  features  of  an  Egyptian  mummy.  .  .  .  Soft 
clay  was  pressed  upon  the  dead  features,  and  when  sufficiently  dry 
it  was  removed  and  other  soft  clay  thinly  pressed  into  the  mould 
obtained.  The  mask  thus  made  was  built  upon  till  the  jar  before 
us  was  completed.  .  .  .  The  interior  of  the  wall  follows  the 
exterior  closely  except  in  projecting  features.  The  potter,  finding 
it  difficult  as  well  as  unnecessary,  to  work  the  clay  evenly  into  the 

skull  enclosed  in  an  earthen  jar,  the  opening  of  which  was  too  small  to 
admit  of  the  skull's  extraction. 


io8  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

projections  of  the  mould,  filled  them  up  more  or  less  solidly." 
This  vase  is  five  inches  in  height  and  five  inches  wide  from  ear  to 
ear.  It  is  open  at  the  top,  and  has  a  perforated  knob  over  the  middle 
of  the  forehead,  perhaps  for  attaching  a  head-dress,  and  the  ears 
are  perforated.  These  holes  also  would  permit  cords  to  be  attached, 
by  which  the  jar  could  be  hung,  probably  in  a  dead-house  where 
the  body  of  the  deceased  original  was  laid.  It  has  been  stated  that 
the  features  exhibited  in  this  vase  are  not  "  Indian,"  but  there 
seems  to  be  no  ground  for  such  a  statement.  The  features  are  ap 
parently  those  of  an  Amerind  boy  fourteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age. 
Of  the  basketry  of  the  Mississippi  valley  there  are,  of  course, 
no  ancient  specimens.  Wicker-work  would  not  last  long  in  that 
climate;  but  there  must  have  been  baskets  and  plaited  implements 
of  various  kinds,  because  people  do  not  make  pottery  without 
passing  through  the  basketry  stage.  The  Amerinds  of  that  region 
also  made  good  baskets  when  first  met  with,  and  we  know  that 
they  did  some  fairly  good  weaving  both  in  ancient  and  modern 
times.  Some  of  the  ancient  fabrics  have  been  preserved  in  the 
mounds  by  contact  with  copper,  by  being  charred,  and  in  other 
ways,  and  the  ingenuity  of  Holmes  has  given  us  fac-similes  of 
some  of  the  old  netting.1  He  noticed  curious  markings  on  certain 
fragments  of  pottery,  and  took  clay  casts  of  them,  thus  producing 
positive  from  negative,  and  revealing  the  fact  that  the  peculiar 
markings  were  the  impressions  of  fabrics.  He  believes  these 
fabrics  were  impressed  on  the  ware  for  purposes  of  ornament,  and 
while  this  may  in  some  instances  have  been  the  reason,  in  my 
opinion,  the  chief  object  of  the  netting  that  made  the  impres 
sion  was  to  lift  the  freshly  made  jar  out  of  a  hole  or  a  wicker 
form  where  it  had  been  modelled.  Very  early  pottery  was 
doubtless  built  on  or  in  wicker-work  —  that  is,  early  in  the 
practice  of  any  particular  tribe.  This  was  specially  the  case 
with  the  Amerinds  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  as  is  plainly  indi 
cated  in  the  casts  made  by  Holmes  from  fragments  of  pottery 
from  that  region.  "  The  earlier  potters  probably  used  baskets 
that  came  up  to  the  curved-in  part  of  the  jar,  which  was  continued 
above  the  basket  by  deft  handling,  or,  if  a  basket  of  the  same 
form  was  followed,  the  basket  was  destroyed  in  the  firing  process. 

]W.  H.  Holmes,  "Prehistoric  Textile  Fabrics,"  Third  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eih. ;  Ibid.,  "Prehistoric  Textile  Art,"  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth. 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


109 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

FLUTED    VASE,    ARKANSAS. 


This  would  seem  to  the  modern  mind  a  great  waste  of  time  and 
material,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Indian  potter  had 
not  learned  modern  haste,  and 
besides  could  turn  up  a  coarse 
basket  in  a  very  short  time. 
Therefore  it  does  not  seem  im 
probable  that  he  may,  in  the 
early  stages,  have  modelled  his 
jar  on  the  inside  of  a  basket 
frame  of  similar  form  and  then 
allowed  the  basket  to  be  con 
sumed  in  the  baking  process 
when  it  could  not  be  separated 
from  the  vessel.  Even  when 
he  developed  to  a  point  beyond 
and  modelled  the  upper  por 
tions  with  a  free  hand,  he  would 
find  great  trouble  in  separat 
ing  his  jar  from  its  framework. 
What,  therefore,  would  be  the 

following  step  ?  It  seems  to  me  it  would  have  been  the  placing 
between  the  clay  and  the  mould  of  a  piece  of  netting,  which  would 
permit  him  to  lift  out  his  jar  easily  and  intact,  and  transport  it  to 
the  drying  place.  He  would  then  speedily  discover  that  his  bas 
ket  was  not  necessary  —  was 
not  so  serviceable,  in  fact,  as 
a  hole  in  the  ground,  for  the 
sides  of  the  hole  could  be 
plastered  with  a  layer  of  very 
sandy  clay,  and  thus  would 
all  sticking  of  the  vessel  to 
its  mould  be  avoided.  The 
netting,  or  fabric,  having 
been  spread  as  evenly  as  pos 
sible  over  the  inside  surface 
of  the  mould  hole,  the  upper 
edges  were  allowed  to  lie  out 
upon  the  ground.  The  soft  clay  being  now  pressed  evenly  upon 
the  fabric  to  the  required  thickness,  the  sandy  surface  of  the  mould 
hole  easily  gave  it  shape,  and  gave  the  potter  no  anxiety  about  the 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

IMPRESSION    OF    PARTS    OF    BASKET 
MOULD    ON    POTTERY 


no  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

outside  surface.  Indeed,  he  had  but  one  surface  to  watch  till  he 
came  to  the  in-curve,  if  his  vessel  was  to  have  a  narrow  mouth. 
Then,  I  surmise,  he  built  up  roughly  a  clay  mould,  well  sanded, 
pressing  what  was  left  of  his  fabric  into  the  inside  of  this  mould  as 
he  built  his  vessel  upward.  Frequently,  doubtless,  the  fabric  was 
not  sufficient  to  go  to  the  top,  which  explains  why  sometimes  only 
apart  of  a  jar  shows  the  cord  markings.  .  .  .  The  distorting 
and  overlapping  of  the  meshes  observed  by  Holmes  were  prob 
ably  due  to  the  gathering  in  to  fit  the  interior  of  the  mould,  for  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  fabric  was  not  shaped  in  any  way 
to  fit  the  mould,  but  was  doubtless  a  fragment  of  some  squarely 
woven  article.  Thus  gathering  and  overlapping  were  necessary  to 
make  it  conform  to  the  inside  surface  of  the  mould.  .  .  . 

'  When  coarse  basketry  was  used  for  a  mould  that  was  in 
tended  to  be  removed  before  firing,  the  interstices  of  the  basket 
work  were  probably  rubbed  full  of  a  mixture  of  sand  and  clay  to 
prevent  the  finished  vessel  from  sticking  or  catching,  which  ex 
plains,  I  think,  the  peculiarity  of  design  in  some  cases,  for  only 
the  more  prominent  features  of  the  basket  work  would  impress  the 
vessel.  ...  In  some  kinds  of  basketry  more  filling  was  neces 
sary  than  in  others,  which  explains  the  frequent  greater  separation 
and  irregularity  of  the  markings."  1 

It  seems,  then,  that  the  pottery  of  the  Atlantic  region  was 
very  rude  and  was  modelled  chiefly  on  wicker  moulds,  and  was 
not  abundant 2  ;  that  the  lower  Mississippi  valley  and  the  South 
west  were  the  regions  within  the  United  States  where  pottery 
attained  its  highest  development  ;  that  as  one  proceeds  northward 
pottery  diminishes  in  quantity  and  in  quality  till  it  disappears  ; 
and  that  in  a  southerly  direction  it  increases  in  abundance  and 
in  excellence  of  manufacture  and  artistic  design.  The  pottery 
area  is  fan-shaped,  with  Central  America  for  a  handle.  This  would 
all  appear  to  indicate  that  the  pottery  wave  rolled  up  from  the  Far 
South,  and  that  the  Moundbuilders  and  the  Pueblos  acquired 
their  art  from  that  direction,  or  brought  it  north  as  they  came  on 
the  retreat  of  the  cold.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  connect  the 

'F.  S.  Dellenbaugh,  ' '  Fabric  -  Marked  Pottery,"  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  March,  1898. 

2Brinton  states  that  the  art  of  the  potter  was  extensively  practised  by 
the  Lenape,  but  if  this  were  accurate  fragments  of  pottery  ought  to  be  com 
moner  than  they  are  in  the  region  formerly  their  home. 


Basketry  and  Pottery 


1 1 1 


Pueblos  with  the  Moundbuilders,  and  both  with  the  Aztecs,  but 
there  is  no  good  evidence  now  known  which  substantiates  any 
such  claim.  Even  if  they  did  come  from  the  South,  it  does  not 
make  a  mystery  nor  does  it  necessarily  prove  any  direct  relation 
ship  between  these  branches  of  the  Amerind  race.  Those  nearest 
the  great  culture  centre  acquired  most  culture,  hence  the  farther 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
VASE    FROM    CHIRIQUI. 


DECORATED    IN    BLACK,    RED,    AND    PURPLE 


north  the  less  pottery.  The  homogeneity  of  the  Amerinds  was 
due  to  causes  operating  on  this  continent  at  a  very  early  period, 
and  the  same  causes  may  explain  why  the  Moundbuilder,  the 
Pueblo,  and  the  Southern  stocks  were  good  potters,  while  the 
Algonquins,  the  Dakotas,  the  Athapascans,  and  other  Northern 
stocks  were  so  inferior  in  this  respect,  while  not  being  inferior  in 
others.1 

The  Aztecs,  Zapotecs,  Mayas,  and  other  people  of  the  Mexican 

1  Compare  Preface  and  last  chapter. 


TI2  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

region  were  expert  potters  ;  and  it  was  in  this  region  that  working 
in  clay,  like  everything  else,  was  carried  to  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection  on  this  continent,  and  where  evidence  is  found  of  seem 
ingly  true  glaze.  Not  only  ordinary  pottery  of  beautiful  shapes 
and  excellent  texture  was  made,  but  large  funeral  vases  of  elabo 
rate  form,  terra-cotta  water-pipes,  and  terra-cotta  figures,  some  of 
them  of  almost  or  quite  life  size.  Saville  recently  found  some 
of  these  funeral  jars  and  terra-cotta  figures  in  the  Zapotec 
country,  south  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  the  province  of  Oaxaca, 
and  there  are  specimens  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  in 
New  York.  The  principal  terra-cotta  figure  he  found  is  thus  de 
scribed  by  Saville  1  :  "  Another  trench  was  started  at  the  eastern 
side  of  this  mound,  and  after  working  down  to  the  level  of  the 
surrounding  fields  near  the  centre  of  the  mound  just  back  of  the 
tomb,  there  were  found  the  scattered  fragments  of  what  will  be, 
when  restored,  the  largest  specimen  of  terra  cotta  ever  found  in 
America,  and  I  do  not  know  of  so  large  a  specimen  ever  having 
been  found  elsewhere.  It  represented  a  warrior,  and  the  different 
pieces  of  the  figure  were  scattered  over  a  space  of  about  fifteen 
feet.  The  central  fragment  was  the  head,  upper  torso,  and  right 
arm,  lying  face  upward  ;  the  open  mouth  revealed  the  teeth 
painted  white  and  filed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  funeral  urns.  The 
eyes  were  well  modelled  and  painted  white  and  red;  the  head  was 
covered  with  a  turban  of  feathers,  somewhat  resembling  the  head 
dress  of  Chac  Mol,  found  by  Dr.  Le  Plongeon  in  Yucatan.  A 
closely  cropped  beard  covered  the  lower  portion  of  the  face,  the 
upper  part  being  pitted  as  though  marked  by  smallpox.  The  ears 
had  curious  circular  ornaments  pendent  by  a  string  passed -through 
holes  pierced  in  the  lobes.  The  nose  was  ornamented  with  a  long 
cylindrical  bead  attached  by  a  string  fastened  at  the  top  and  bot 
tom  through  the  septum.  The  breast  was  painted  red  and  white 
and  additionally  ornamented  with  curious  designs  made  by  circular 
indentations.  The  legs,  which  lay  quite  separated  from  the  body, 
were  bare,  and  the  feet  were  covered  with  sandals  having  beautiful 
heel-pieces.  Around  each  ankle  was  a  line  of  bells.  Both  the 
toe-  and  the  finger-nails  were  painted  white  ;  the  right  arm,  bent 
at  an  angle,  grasped  a  pole  or  staff  of  which  about  a  foot  remained. 
These  fragments  are  now  in  the  Museo  Nacional,  City  of  Mexico. 

1  M.  H.  Saville,  "Exploration  of  Zapotecan  Tombs  ill  Southern  Mexico," 
American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  April,  1899. 


From  photograph  by  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 

AN    ANCIENT    FIGURE   OF    TERRA  COTTA    FROM    THE    VALLEY    OF    MEXICO 
The  height  of  this  figure  is  150.9  cm.     Breadth  of  shoulders,  46.0  cm. 


1 14  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

The  entire  length  of  the  figure,  according  to  measurements  made 
of  the  detached  pieces,  was  nearly,  if  not  quite,  six  feet." 

The  specimen  now  in  the  New  York  Museum,  page  1 13,  is  about 
five  feet  in  height,  and  while,  artistically,  it  is  crude,  it  exhibits 
great  skill  in  the  potter's  art.  The  walls  are  thin  and  it  must 
have  taken  much  labour  to  build  the  figure  and  successfully  fire  it. 
It  is  in  three  parts.  There  are  also  in  the  Museum  several  of  the 
funeral  urns  found  in  this  locality.  They  are  about  fifteen  or 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

COIL    INDENTED    FOR    DECORATION 


twenty  inches  high  and  skilfully  made.  These  urns  were  found 
"in  series  of  five  in  front  of  tombs,  on  the  roof,  or  fastened  into  the 
facade."  They  are  usually  of  grotesque  design  like  most  of  the 
Amerind  figures,  and  evidently  represent  personages  arrayed  in 
the  regalia  of  certain  orders  or  societies,  or  possibly  the  same  per 
sonage  in  his  various  offices,  or  attended  by  representations  of 
other  officers  of  some  society  to  which  he  belonged.  Saville  says 
of  one  group  :  "  Resting  directly  on  the  cement  floor  at  the  centre 
of  the  mound  were  five  large  funeral  urns,  page  115,  representing 
seated  figures,  placed  in  a  row  facing  west.  The  urn  in  the  centre 
has  a  remarkably  well-modelled  face,  undoubtedly  a  portrait  of  some 


n6  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

ancient  Zapotecan  personage.  The  two  on  either  side  are  of  the 
same  general  size  and  character,  with  the  exception  of  the  face, 
which  is  covered  with  a  mask  in  the  form  of  a  grotesque  face,  pos 
sibly  the  conventionalised  serpent,  as  the  bifurcated  tongue  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  characteristics."  1  These  are  some  of  the 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

POT    SHOWING    DIAGONAL     GROOVES     ACROSS     THE     LINES    OF    THE    COIL    MADE    BY 
THE    HAND    IN    SMOOTHING    UP.        1/3.       MANGOS    CANYON,    COLORADO 

most  important  terra-cotta  productions  ever  found  on  this  conti 
nent.  Some  terra-cotta  tubing  also  found  at  this  place  is  unique. 
Saville  says:  "No  such  terra-cotta  tubing  has  ever  been  dis 
covered  elsewhere  in  Mexico,  and  a  new  problem  is  therefore  pre 
sented."  One  end  of  this  tubing  was  three  feet  below  the  surface 
1  American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  1899,  i.,  p.  355. 


ii8  The  North  Americans  of  Yesterday 

in  a  field,  while  the  other  was  in  the  mound  excavated.  "  It  was 
laid  in  short  sections,  of  varying  length,  one  end  being  smaller 
than  the  other,  the  small  end  of  one  tube  being  fitted  into  the  large 
end  of  the  next,  page  117.  Several  of  the  joints  still  preserved  the 
cement;  with  which  they  were  made  tight.  The  exploration  did 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PUEBLO    POT.       PATTERN    PRODUCED    BY    OBLITERATING    PINCH    MARKS.       % 

not  reveal  the  use  of  the  pipe."  The  fact,  however,  that  the 
tubes  were  so  carefully  fitted  into  each  other  with,  apparently,  the 
joinings  all  on  the  down  slope,  that  is,  connected  in  such  a  way 
that  water  would  flow  continuously  without  waste,  and  that  the 
joints  were  made  tight  with  cement,  is  good  evidence  that  these 


Basketry  and   Pottery 


119 


pipes  were  laid  for  conducting  water.  It  seems  probable  that  this 
tubing  was  a  part  of  some  water-supply  or  irrigating  scheme, 
which  had  been  abandoned  before  the  mound  covering  a  part  of  it 
was  constructed.  As  the  valley  where  these  interesting  finds  were 
made,  as  well  as  neighbouring  valleys,  contain  many  more  mounds, 
it  is  probable 
that  the  future 
exploration  o  f 
them  will  pro 
duce  much  more 
material  of 
value.  I  f  t  h  e 
terra-cotta  tub 
ing  had  a  my- 
t  h  o  1  o  g  i  c  a  1 
significance  i  t 
will  be  found  in 
other  mounds, 
and  if  it  be 
longed  to  an  ir 
rigating  scheme, 
or  water-works, 
it  will  be  ex-  u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 
plained  by  other 
finds.  Effigy  jars  were  not  confined  to  Mexico,  for  they  are 
found  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  especially  in  Ten 
nessee,  but  they  are  nowhere  anything  like  those  described  from 
the  Zapotec  country.  The  Tennessee  specimens  artistically  and 
mechanically  are  exceedingly  crude,  as  are  all  attempts  to  de 
lineate  the  human  figure  by  the  northerly  Amerinds.  Some  of  the 
most  elaborate  and  at  the  same  time  artistic  forms  in  Amerind 
pottery  are  found  in  Chiriqui,1  a  province  just  below  Costa  Rica. 
The  old  occupants  of  this  region  seem  to  have  excelled  in  metal- 
working,  stone-carving,  and  pottery,  and  probably  in  other  arts 
the  products  of  which  are  of  a  more  destructible  nature.  As  the 
line  of  demarkation  between  the  North-  and  South-American  cul 
tures  runs  along  the  southern  side  of  Nicaragua,  practically  on 
the  line  of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal,  the  consideration  of  the 

1  W.  H.  Holmes,  "  Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,"  Sixth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


PINCH-MARKED    COIL 


12O  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Chiriqui  products  should  belong  perhaps  with  the  South-American 
division,  but  being  above  the  isthmus,  they  may  be  mentioned  here 
for  the  sake  of  comparison.  '  The  casual  observer,"  says  Holmes, 
"  would  at  once  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the  wheel  or  moulds 
had  been  used,  but  it  is  impossible  to  detect  the  use  of  any  such 

appliances."  And 
further  :  "On  the  ex 
posed  surfaces  of  cer 
tain  groups  of  ware 
the  polish  is  in  many 
cases  so  perfect  that 
casual  observers  and 
inexperienced  persons 
take  it  for  a  glaze."  ' 
There  was  extraordi- 
na.ry  variety  in  this 
ware.  There  are 
whistles,  drums,  rat 
tles,  round  vases  with 
necks  and  without 
necks;  vases  of  simple 
and  vases  of  complex 
form  ;  vases  and  jars 
with  elaborate 
handles  ;  vases  with 
annular  bases  or  feet  ; 
and  vases  with  short  or  long  legs,  three  in  number  generally. 
This  field  is  so  rich  that  it  is  practicable  to  give  here  only  a  sug 
gestion  of  what  it  affords,  and  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  admir 
able  paper  by  Holmes.1 

In  the  matter  of  decoration  there  is  found  a  general  similarity 
of  methods  in  the  different  regions.  Apparently  the  first  decora 
tions  were  the  unavoidable  result  of  methods  of  manufacture, 
whether  moulded  or  coil-made.  In  the  first  instance  the  meshes  of 
the  wicker  mould,  or  such  part  of  them  as  could  not  easily  be  cov 
ered  up  with  a  sandy  paste  to  prevent  adhesion,  impressed  them 
selves  upon  the  soft  clay  ;  or  the  fabric  that  was  employed  to 
remove  the  work  from  a  mould  made  impressions  upon  the  ware. 
1  W.  H.  Holmes,  "  Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,"  Sixth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ENG RAVED  WARE,  ARKANSAS. 


Basketry  and   Pottery  121 

If  coil-made,  the  pinching  of  the  clay  rope  into  position  left  marks 
of  the  finger-tips  and  the  finger-nails  with  a  regularity  that  doubt 
less  came  to  be  admired  and  then  modified  to  conform  to  fancy, 
and  finally  finger  markings  and  other  markings  and  indentations 
grew,  especially  in  our  South-west,  into  a  regular  system  of  deco 
ration.  The  irregularity  due  to  pinching  the  rope  in  place  is  less 
with  the  expert  than  it  was  with  the  primitive  potters,  and  it  is 


u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 

ENGRAVED    WARE,    ARKANSAS.       ^ 

now  smoothed  off  entirely  with  a  "  rib,"  the  left  hand  being  placed 
opposite  the  pressure  applied  with  the  right.1  In  the  earlier  forms 
the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  held  stiffly  downward  seem  to  have 
been  used  to  even  up  the  irregularity  of  the  coils  to  some  extent, 
as  may  be  discerned  in  figure  page  116,  where  there  are  diagonal 
grooves  across  the  lines  of  the  coil,,  evidently  made,  the  left  hand 
being  inside  the  jar,  by  drawing  the  fingers  of  the  right,  or  rather 
the  forefinger  braced  against  the  others,  diagonally  upward  upon 
the  outer  surface.  The  operation  would  be  almost  identical  with 
the  modern  practice  except  that  the  fingers  were  used  instead  of 
a  "  rib."  Indentations  were  also  made  with  a  sharp  instrument 

1  Rib  is  the  term  applied  by  our  potters  to  the  small  thin  pieces  of  wood 
used  for  smoothing  the  ware.  The  Moki  "rib"  corresponds  closely  in 
size,  shape,  and  use  to  that  I  have  seen  employed  by  our  potters. 


122  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

in  a  pattern,  and  another  method  seems  to  have  been  to  smooth  off 
all  the  pinch  marks,  except  in  certain  areas  that  when  left  would 
form  a  pattern.  Thus  in  the  latter  case  the  pattern  was  produced 
by  a  system  of  obliteration.  In  figure  on  page  118,  a  vase  from 
the  Moki  country,  of  the  ancient  Pueblo  manufacture,  shows  this 
method  of  making  a  pattern  by  smoothing  down  pinch  marks. 
To  do  this  the  pinch  marks  would  intentionally  be  made  with 
some  regularity. 

Another  method  of  ornamentation  was  that  of  scratching  or 
engraving  the  ware  after  it  had  been  fired.  This  is  seen  in  figures 
on  pages  120  and  121,  from  Arkansas.  Still  another  method  of 
ornamentation  was  produced  after  the  ware  was  smoothed  to  its 
finish,  whether  coil-made  or  not,  by  drawing  on  it  with  a  point. 
An  example  of  this  is  seen  on  page  103,  also  from  Arkansas.  The 
method  that  was  most  employed  by  the  ancient  Amerinds,  and  is 
used  by  those  of  to-day,  as  well  as  by  most  potters  the  world  round, 
is  colour.  A  slip  or  wash  of  fine  clay  was  given  to  the  ware,  and 
polished  and  decorated  in  colours  before  firing.  In  this  way  many 
beautiful  results  were  obtained  in  all  the  regions  of  North  America. 
Almost  every  colour  was  used,  but  white,  black,  red,  and  yellow 
are  most  common.  These  pigments  were  laid  on  in  a  single  wash, 
or  were  applied  in  more  or  less  elaborate  patterns.  The  Pueblos, 
ancient  and  modern,  have  produced  an  astonishing  variety  of  de 
signs,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Mexicans,  Mayas,  Zapotecs, 
Chiriquis,  and  other  stocks  of  the  South.  A  large  volume  could 
barely  do  justice  to  this  subject,  but  enough  has  been  given  here 
to  show  the  nature,  distribution,  and  trend  of  pottery  making  by 
the  Amerindian  Tribes.1 

1  For  soapstone  or  steatite  vessels,  see  Chap.  X. 


BLACK     CUP,    CHIRKJUI. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


WOVEN    MOCCASIN    FROM    KENTUCKY    CAVE 


CHAPTER  VI 


•  WEAVING  AND   COSTUME 


THE  first  article  of  dress  of  primitive  people  was  not  a  woven 
stuff,  but  nevertheless  weaving,  like  pottery,  begins  in  plait 
ing  and  basketry,  and  is  an  ancient  art.  The  first  clothing, 
a  necessity  of  climate,  was  made  of  skins  of  animals  where  they 
could  be  obtained,  and  where  they  could  not  primitive  man  walked 
in  a  state  of  nature.  His  desire  for  clothing  was  one  purely  of 
comfort  ;  modesty,  as  we  define  it,  was  unknown.  Modesty,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  concealment  of  the  body,  is  the  child  of  climate 
and  fashion.  A  Breton  peasant  girl  does. not  mind  if  her  legs  are 
seen,  but  she  is  shocked  if  caught  with  her  hair  down  or  with 
out  her  cap  ;  one  of  our  own  ladies  thinks  nothing  of  exhibiting 
her  bare  shoulders  and  bosom  at  the  opera  under  gaslight,  but 
she  would  not  do  it  in  daylight.  On  the  beach  it  would  also  be 
improper,  but  there  she  is  not  troubled  if  her  lower  extremities 
are  seen.  In  some  of  the  milder  climates  to-day  clothing  is  scanty, 
while  with  the  Eskimo  in  the  Far  North  it  is  composed  of  warm  furs. 
Cold  was  responsible  for  the  first  clothing,  and  is  to-day  respon 
sible  for  a  good  deal  of  it.  The  idea  of  utilising  feathers  and  broad 
leaves  as  well  as  skins  would  soon  occur  to  a  people,  especially  if 
they  found  it  difficult  to  secure  the  skins,  and  with  these  some 
kind  of  a  string  was  necessary  to  hold  them  together,  and  if  no 
sinew  or  thong  was  at  hand  the  want  would  be  supplied  by  twisted 

10 

123 


124  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

grass  or  bark,  and  this  twisted  grass  or  bark  then  came  itself  to  be 
combined  in  the  form  of  mats  for  sleeping  on  or  covering  sticks  to 
produce  a  shelter.  This  was  plaiting,  and  it  is  the  first  step  to 
basketry  and  weaving.  Many  of  the  simpler  arts  are  native  in 
the  brain  of  man,  and  the  expression  of  them  at  the  proper  time  is 
as  easy  and  natural  as  it  is  for  a  birdling  to  rly,  a  kitten  to  catch 
a  mouse,  or  a  baby  to  walk  for  the  first  time.  It  is,  like  sight, 
or  thought,  or  articulate  speech,  a  direct  and  unconscious  result 
of  the  innate  composition  of  mankind.  It  is  impossible  to  tell 
why  a  spider  builds  a  web  of  even  proportions  instead  of  one  that 
is  irregular,  or  when  it  acquired  the  skill  to  perform  its  feat  of 
engineering,  or  why  it  builds  a  web  at  all,  and  does  not,  like  a 
cat  and  some  species  of  spiders,  rely  on  springing  upon  its  prey. 
The  spider  does  this  the  world  round  because  it  is  a  spider,  and 
because  its  prey  also  has,  the  world  round,  its  own  habits.  So  with 
man.  Everywhere  he  learned  to  plait  mats,  make  wicker-work 
and  pottery,  and  a  thousand  other  things  simply  because  he  was 
everywhere  the  same  man.  If  you  examine  articles  of  primitive 
manufacture  from  various  parts  of  the  globe,  you  will  find  them 
all  practically  alike,  because  the  men  who  made  them  were  prac 
tically  alike  and  their  wants  and  surroundings  were  practically 
alike.  They  plaited  together  strips  of  bark  or  twisted  grasses,  or 
rushes,  because  they  had  to  have  them,  and  they  went  on  finding 
out  the  properties  of  the  materials  that  compose  the  world  just  as 
they  are  doing  to-day,  till  they  made  cloth  and  made  it  on  a  ma 
chine.  Primitive  fabrics  were  everywhere  about  the  same,  and 
when  the  loom  was  invented  it  was  and  is,  where  still  used  in  its 
primitive  form,  very  much  the  same.  That  in  use  to-day  by  the 
Navajos  is  much  like  that  used  by  the  Orientals.  The  Navajos 
are  probably  not  the  inventors  of  it,  but  borrowed  the  idea  from 
the  Pueblos,  or  at  least  derived  it  through  a  mixture  of  Pueblo 
blood.  Their  cousins,  the  Apaches,  do  not  weave,  and  they  are 
probably  better  representatives  of  the  original  Athapascan  stock 
than  the  Navajos. 

The  Mexican  loom  was  similar  to  that  of  the  Navajos,  and  it  is 
probable  that  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  Mississippi  valley  were 
acquainted  with  one  built  on  a  like  pattern.  The  product  of  these 
primitive  looms  was  also  much  alike  in  its  character;  some  of  the 
Oriental  rugs  that  we  see  now  strongly  resemble  the  blankets  of 
the  Mexicans  or  Navajos. 


,'  *::»»»!•*  i 


MENOMINEE  BEADED  GARTERS 
125 


126  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

This  is  because  weaving  is  a  simple  art  ;  and  until  the  inven 
tion  of  the  Jacquard  principle  complex  patterns  were  produced 
only  by  great  labour,  as  all  the  different  colours  had  to  be  adjusted 
by  hand,  which  is  still  the  case  in  many  fine  products  like  the 
Turkish  rugs  or  the  shawls  of  Cashmere. 

The  primitive  products  of  the  loom  were  square  in  shape,  and 
when  used  as  garments  they  were  not  cut  to  a  pattern  or  altered, 
but  were  worn  as  they  came  from  the  loom.  To  make  a  dress,  it 
was  only  necessary  to  fasten  two  of  these  mats  or  blankets  to 
gether,  just  as  the  Moki  women  do  now.  This  combination 
was  then  slipped  over  the  head,  with  one  corner  on  the  right 
shoulder  and  one  under  the  left,  and  a  belt  around  the  waist.  This 
was  the  costume  complete.  There  was  no  fitting  the  fabric  to 
the  body. 

Thread,  cord,  twine,  and  rope  were  made  by  the  Menominees 
chiefly  out  of  the  "  inner  bark  of  the  young  sprouts  of  basswood. 
The  bark  is  removed  in  sheets  and  boiled  in  water  to  which  a 
large  quantity  of  lye  from  wood  ashes  has  been  added.  This 
softens  the  fibre  and  permits  the  worker  to  manipulate  it  without 
breaking.  The  shoulder-blade  of  a  deer  or  other  large  animal  is 
then  nailed  or  otherwise  fastened  to  an  upright  post,  and  through 
it  a  hole  about  an  inch  in  diameter  is  drilled  ;  through  this  hole 
bunches  of  the  boiled  bark  are  pulled  backward  and  forward,  from 
right  to  left,  to  remove  from  it  all  splinters  or  other  hard  frag 
ments.  After  the  fibre  has  become  soft  and  pliable,  bunches  of  it 
are  hung  up  in  hanks,  to  be  twisted  as  desired.  The  manner  of 
making  cord  or  twine,  such  as  is  used  in  weaving  mats  and  for 
almost  all  household  purposes,  is  by  holding  in  the  left  hand  the 
fibre  as  it  is  pulled  from  the  hank,  and  separating  it  into  two  parts, 
which  are  laid  across  the  thigh.  The  palm  of  the  right  hand  is 
then  rolled  forward  over  both  so  as  to  tightly  twist  the  pair  of 
strands,  when  they  are  permitted  to  unite  and  twist  into  a  cord. 
The  twisted  end  being  pushed  a  little  to  the  right,  the  next  continu 
ous  portions  of  the  united  strands  also  are  twisted  to  form  a  single 
cord.  The  same  process  is  followed  in  all  fibre-twisting,  even  to  the 
finest  nettle  thread."  '  In  the  matter  of  thread  some  fine  results 
were  obtained  by  various  Amerinds.  Holmes  says  :  '  The  finest 
threads  with  which  I  am  acquainted  are  perhaps  not  as  fine  as  our 
number  ten  ordinary  spool-cotton  thread,  but  we  are  not  justified 
1  Hoffman,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  260. 


128  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

in  assuming  that  more  refined  work  was  not  done."  '  Sage-brush, 
yucca,  and  other  plants  were  used  for  making  thread  and  cord. 

In  order  to  weave,  it  is  first  necessary  to  reduce  your  fibre,  or 
wool,  or  cotton,  to  more  or  less  even  threads  or  yarn.  The 
Amerind  way  of  doing  this  was  the  same,  practically,  wherever 
spinning  and  weaving  were  attempted,  from  Central  America 
northward.  The  spindle  is  a  round,  slender,  pointed  stick,  a  foot 
to  about  fifteen  inches  long,  put  through  a  disc,  generally  of  flat, 
hard  wood,  four  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  which  acts  as  a  fly 
wheel  to  keep  up  the  momentum.  It  is  the  simplest  form  of  top. 
The  operator  holds  the  wool  or  cotton,  previously  prepared,  in  his 
or  her  lap,  and  attaching  one  end  of  it  to  the  top  arm  of  the  spin 
dle,  above  the  disc,  gives  the  spindle  a  twirl,  either  by  the 
thumb  and  forefinger  or  by  a  dexterous  sweep  of  the  palm  of  the 
hand  along  the  thigh.  The  fibre,  or  wool,  that  was  attached  to 
the  arm  of  it  winds  round  till  it  reaches  the  tip,  where  it  clings 
and  takes  on  the  rotary  motion  of  the  stick  to  which  it  is  fast, 
being  twisted  thereby  into  yarn.  It  continues  to  spin  with  the 
spindle  for  some  seconds,  about  fifteen  or  twenty,  and  when  the 
momentum  slackens  below  the  necessary  speed,  the  yarn  thus  far 
made  is  wound  on  the  spindle  and  it  is  started  afresh,  with  more 
wool  paid  out  to  the  twisting.  The  operation  is  repeated  over 
and  over  till  the  spindle  is  full,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see  how 
rapidly  it  can  be  done.  I  have  only  seen  this  performed  amongst 
the  Moki,  but  the  descriptions  from  other  places  show  it  to  be 
done  in  about  the  same  way  everywhere.  In  the  Mexican  region 
the  spindle-discs  were  made  of  pottery.  In  Nicaragua  both  wood 
and  terra  cotta  were  employed,  and  it  is  likely  that  wood  was  also 
used  by  some  part  of  the  people  in  Mexico  and  other  places  where 
the  terra-cotta  discs  are  now  found. 

Weaving  was  not  confined  to  the  Pueblo  and  Mexican  country 
when  the  whites  first  came  to  the  continent,  but  was  in  vogue 
amongst  many  different  tribes,  who  used  various  substances  in  the 
manufacture  of  rugs  and  blankets.  Cotton  amongst  Southern  and 
South-western  tribes  was  a  favourite  material,  and  in  other  places 
hemp,  and  the  hair  of  animals,  and  birds'  feathers  were  used.  The 
Kwakiutls  of  the  North-\vest  coast  "  made  blankets  of  mountain- 
goat  wool,  dog's  hair,  feathers,  or  a  mixture  of  both."  *  And  the 

1  Holmes,  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  22. 

2  Boas,  Report  U.  S.  Nat.  Museum,  p.  319. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


129 


tribes  of  Ptiget  Sound  and  the  Straits  of  Fuca  (t  attained  consider 
able  skill  in  manufacturing  a  species  of  blanket  from  a  mixture 
of  the  wool  of  the  mountain  sheep  and  the  hair  of  a  particular  kind 
of  dog,  though  in  this  art  they  never  equalled  the  more  northern 
tribes."  1  It  is  extremely  probable  that  some  of  the  Pueblos, 
before  the  introduction  of  the  sheep  of  Europe,  used  the  hair  or 
wool  of  a  mountain  sheep  or  goat  for  weaving,  and  it  is  possible 
that  they  had  to  some  extent  domesticated  that  animal  or  scfme 


From  photograph  by  the  authcr 

PART    OF   THE    SOMAIKOLI     CEREMONY   AT    CICHUMOVI,    NOVEMBER,    1884, 
SHOWING    A    SACRED    BLANKET   ON    FIGURE    IN   FOREGROUND 

similar  one  ;  at  least  they  may  have  kept  it  imprisoned  for  its 
wool  in  much  the  same  way  that  they  now  keep  eagles  for  their 
feathers.  Fray  Marcos  relates  that  one  of  the  natives  he  met 
with  in  1540  told  him  that  the  people  of  Totonteac  made  cloth, 
much  like  the  garment  he  had  on,  from  the  hair  of  certain  small 
animals.  These  animals  have  usually  been  supposed  to  have  been 
dogs,  but  as  the  Northern  Amerinds  used  mountain-goat's  wool,  it 
is  possible  that  the  Pueblos,  who  were-in  advance  of  them  in  all 
that  pertains  to  weaving,  had  not  only  succeeded  in  weaving  such 
hair  or  wool  garments,  but  had  conceived  the  idea  of  holding  the 
1  Gibbs,  U.  S.  G,  S.,  (Jontrib.  to  N.  A.  Ethnology,  vol.  i.,  part  ii.,  p.  219. 

Q 


130  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

animals  in  captivity.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  they 
had  an  animal  of  the  vicuna  kind.  Terra-cotta  images  have  been 
found  in  the  Salado  ruins  of  Arizona  that  are  difficult  to  identify, 
and  are  believed  by  some  zoologists  who  have  seen  them  to  repre 
sent  "  a  creature  allied  to  the  South- American  Camellidse."  ' 

"  It  has  been  surmised  that  such  animals  continued  to  be 
domesticated  by  the  sedentary  Indians  of  Arizona  and  New  Mex 
ico  down  to  historic  days  and  became  extinct  only  when  the  more 
serviceable  European  sheep  was  introduced  by  the  Spaniards. 
Fossil  bones  of  an  animal  of  this  family  have  been  found 
in  the  South-west  ;  but  its  bones  were  not  identified  in  the  Salado 
ruins." 

The  Pai  Utes  made  a  garment  of  rabbit-skins  which  was  very 
warm.  The  skins  were  twisted  and  attached  one  to  another  end 
and  end,  making  a  sort  of  fur  rope,  and  this  rope  was  tied  in  par 
allel  lines,  forming  a  kind  of  large  cloak  which  was  most  service 
able  in  winter.  Flax,  or  a  plant  closely  allied  to  it,  also  grew 
wild  all  over  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  was  used  for  gar 
ments.  The  bark  of  the  sage-brush  was  used  to  make  cord  and 
mats.  Yucca  also  furnished  a  supply  of  valuable  fibre.  Cotton 
was  grown  by  many  of  the  Pueblos  and  is  still  cultivated  by  the 
Mokis,  who  manufacture  a  sacred  blanket  from  it  that  is  sought 
after  at  good  prices  by  the  Pueblos  of  other  districts.  It  is  a  finely 
woven  white  blanket,  with  a  broad  red  stripe  transversely  at  each 
end.  It  is  worn  by  women  in  the  ceremonials.  The  Mokis  are 
good  weavers,  using  a  loom  similar  to  that  employed  by  the 
Navajos.  The  Moki  loom  is  generally  set  up  in  the  kiva  2  where 
often  there  are  permanent  attachments  for  it,  and  there  the  men, 
who  do  all  the  weaving  among  this  tribe,  patiently  execute  their 
plans.  Most  of  the  Moki  blankets  are  of  low  colours  and  simple 
design,  dark  blue  being,  with  black,  the  favourite  tint.  The  usual 
material  is  the  wool  of  the  European  sheep,  which  has  flourished 
among  the  Pueblos  ever  since  it  was  introduced  by  the  Spaniards. 
The  sheep  are  herded  on  the  plains  during  the  day  and  at  night  are 
driven  up  the  talus  of  the  cliffs  to  corrals  that  lie  just  below  the  pla 
teau  on  which  the  villages  are  built.  The  Navajos  living  in  the 

1  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  Bones  of  the  Hemenway  Expedition, 
Introduction  by  Washington  Matthews,  p.  157. 

3  See  for  description  of  kiva  the  chapter  in  this  book  on  Architecture, 
etc.,  and  also  Macmillan's  Dictionary  of  Architecture. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


surrounding  country  have  far  larger  flocks  than  those  of  the  Moki, 
and  weave  only  wool.  In  fact,  there  are  amongst  the  Navajos 
more  than  a  million  and  a  half  head  of  sheep  and  goats.  Most  of 
the  wool  from  these  they  usually  sell  to  dealers  at  four  or  five 
cents  a  pound  and  then  purchase  for  their  blanket-work  at  high 
prices  Germantown  wools  of  brilliant  colours,  which  colours  they 
cannot  obtain  with  their  own  dyes,  though  the  colours  they  do 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


DETAILS    OF   NAVAJO    LOOM    CONSTRUCTION 


secure  are  far  more  artistic.  Formerly,  to  get  the  brilliant  red  of 
which  they  are  so  fond,  they  would  buy  a  Mexican  cloth,  called 
bayeta,  a  sort  of  flannel,  and  ravel  it,  to  reweave  it  in  their 
blankets.  The  women  do  most  of  the  weaving  amongst  the  Nav 
ajos.  The  colours  are  usually  bright,  though  the  every-day  serv 
iceable  blanket  is  of  dark  blue  and  white  or  black  and  white,  or  of 
the  natural  grey  of  the  wool.  The  greater  gaudiness  of  much  of  the 
Navajo  work  has  given  it  a  reputation  of  superiority  to  that  of 


132  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  Pueblo,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  not  wholly  correct.  Wash 
ington  Matthews,1  who  has  so  carefully  studied  the  subject,  states 
that  there  is  a  constant  deterioration  in  Pueblo  weaving,  which 
may  be  true  in  general,  but  hardly  applies  to  the  Moki.  I  have 
a  sample  of  Moki  work  which,  so  far  as  weaving  skill  is  concerned, 
is  as  fine  as  any  Navajo  work  I  have  ever  seen.  The  Moki  do 
not  turn  out  as  much  as  the  Navajo,  because  they  are  a  far  smaller 
tribe  ;  and  their  product  is  dark,  as  a  rule,  in  colour,  as  they  use 
their  own  dyes,  but  its  texture,  and  especially  the  texture  of  the 
sacred  cotton  blankets,  is  extremely  fine,  even  finer  and  better  as 
an  example  of  weaving  skill  than  many  Navajo  blankets.  "  In 
some  Pueblos,"  says  Matthews,  "  the  skill  of  the  loom  has  been 
almost  forgotten." 

The  Navajo  loom  is  set  up  anywhere  and  a  shelter  of  boughs 
built  over  it.  As  the  rainfall  is  light  in  the  Navajo  country,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  provide  permanent  shelters.  The  loom  is  worth 
a  careful  description,  and  as  I  do  not  know  of  any  better,  or 
indeed  so  good  as  that  given  by  Matthews,  it  is  here  quoted 
entire  :  "  Two  posts,  a  a,  are  set  firmly  in  the  ground  ;  to  these 
are  lashed  two  cross  pieces  or  braces,  b  c,  the  whole  forming  the 
frame  of  the  loom.  Sometimes  two  slender  trees,  growing  at  a 
convenient  distance  from  one  another,  are  made  to  answer  for  the 
posts,  d  is  a  horizontal  pole,  which  I  call  the  supplementary 
yarn-beam,  attached  to  the  upper  brace,  b,  by  means  of  a  rope,*N 
e  e,  spirally  applied,  f  is  the  upper  beam  of  the  loom.  As  it  is 
analogous  to  the  yarn-beam  of  our  looms,  I  will  call  it  by  this 
name,  although  once  only  have  I  seen  the  warp  wound  around  it. 
It  lies  parallel  to  the  pole,  d,  about  two  or  three  inches  below  it, 
and  is  attached  to  the  latter  by  a  number  of  loops,  g  g.  A  spiral 
cord  wound  around  the  yarn-beam  holds  the  upper  border  cord, 
h  h,  which,  in  turn,  secures  the  upper  end  of  the  warp,  i  i.  The 
lower  beam  of  the  loom  is  shown  at  k.  I  will  call  this  the  cloth 
beam,  although  the  finished  web  is  never  wound  around  it  ;  it  is 
tied  firmly  to  the  lower  brace,  c,  of  the  frame,  and  to  it  is  secured 
the  lower  border  cord  of  the  blanket.  The  original  distance 
between  the  two  beams  is  the  length  of  the  blanket.  Lying 
between  the  threads  of  the  warp  is  depicted  a  broad,  thin,  oaken 
stick,  1,  which  I  will  call  the  batten.  A  set  of  healds  attached  to 

1  Dr.  Washington  Matthews,   "Navajo  Weavers."     Third  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  375. 


Weaving  and  Costume  133 

a  heald-rod,  m,  are  shown  above  the  batten.  These  healds  are 
made  of  cord  or  yarn  ;  they  include  alternate  threads  of  the.  warp, 
and  serve  when  drawn  forward  to  open  the  lower  shed.  The 
upper  shed  is  kept  patent  by  a  stout  rod,  n  (having  no  healds 
attached),  which  I  name  the  ^bed-rod.  Their  substitute  for  the 
reed  of  our  looms  is  a  wooden  fork,  which  will  be  designated  as 
the  reed- fork."  1 

All  the  Navajo  and  Pueblo  weaving  is  the  same  on  both  sides. 
Most  of  it  is  straight  weaving,  but  there  is  a  good  deal  of  diagonal 
work.  This  is  true  also  of  the  Moki.  The  diagonal  weaving 
produces  a  diamond  figure  that  is  very  pretty,  but  I  have  never 
seen  it  used  in  any  of  the  finest  Navajo  work.  As  to  the  designs, 
Matthews  says  that ' '  in  the  finer  blankets  of  intricate  pattern,  out 
of  thousands  which  I  have  examined,  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
ever  seen  two  exactly  alike."  1  Doubtless  while  some  of  these 
designs,  or  even  many,  are  drawn  from  Pueblo  sources  as  no 
ticed,  the  weaver  introduces  original  features  and  often  invents 
new  patterns.  The  blankets  are  woven,  as  a  rule,  in  two  ways, 
the  tight  method  for  protection  against  rain,  and  the  loose  method 
for  protection  against  cold.  The  loose,  soft  blanket  is  worn  under 
one  of  the  harder  ones  in  wet  or  windy  weather.2  The  Navajos 
also  weave  garters  and  long  sashes.  The  garters  are  similar  to 
the  sashes,  only  smaller.  They  are  used  to  hold  leggings  in  place. 
Small  blankets  are  made  to  put  under  the  saddle,  and  these  are 
often  very  fine  in  texture  as  well  as  in  pattern.  Similar  ones  are 
made  for  children. 

"  Previously  to  the  seventeenth  century,"  says  Bandelier, 
"  the  aboriginal  dress  consisted  largely  of  cotton  sheets,  or  rather 
simple  wrappers,  tied  either  around  the  neck  or  on  the  shoulder, 
or  converted  into  sleeveless  jackets."  Of  the  fibre  of  the  yucca, 
the  Zuni  Indians  made  skirts  and  kilts;  of  rabbit-skins  very  heavy 
blankets  were  made.  The  northern  Puebloans,  of  New  Mexico, 
nearer  to  a  game  region,  dressed  in  buckskin  in  preference  to 
anything  else.  But  still,  even  when  cotton  was  unobtainable  for 
whole  garments,  they  sought  to  secure  cotton  scarfs  and  girdles 
woven  in  bright  colours,  which  were  used  for  belts  as  well  as  for 
garters,  etc.  The  dress  was  more  simple  than  that  of  to-day. 

1  Washington  Matthews,  Third  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  377. 

2  Some  of  the  finest  Navajo  blankets  command  high  prices — a  hundred 
dollars  or  more. 


134  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Leggings  of  buckskin  were  worn  in  winter  only,  and  then  mostly 
by  the  northern  Pueblos.  The  moccasin,  or  tegua,  protected  the 
feet.  It  is  explicitly  stated  that  while  the  uppers  of  this  shoe 
without  heel  were  of  deerskin,  the  soles  were  frequently  of  buffalo 
hide."  l  The  moccasin  of  the  South-west  is  generally  soled  with 
rawhide  of  some  kind,  the  sole  being  slightly  turned  up  all  round. 
Another  material  for  garments  was  feathers.  These  were  util 
ised  all  over  the  continent,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  by  various 
tribes,  but  it  was  the  Mexicans  who  carried  the  work  in  this  line 
to  perfection.  "  Nothing  could  be  more  picturesque,"  says  Pres- 
cott,  "  than  the  aspect  of  these  Indian  battalions  with  the  naked 
bodies  of  the  common  soldiers  gaudily  painted,  the  fantastic  hel 
mets  of  the  chiefs  glittering  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and 
the  glowing  panoplies  of  feather- work,  which  decorated  their  per 
sons.  .  .  .  The  common  file  wore  no  covering  except  a  girdle 
round  the  loins.  Their  bodies  were  painted  with  appropriate 
colours  of  the  chieftain  whose  banner  they  followed.  The  feather- 
mail  of  the  higher  class  of  warriors  exhibited  also  a  similar  selec 
tion  of  colours  for  the  like  object,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
colour  of  the  tartan  indicates  the  peculiar  clan  of  the  Highlander. 
The  caciques  and  principal  warriors  were  clothed  in  a  quilted 
cotton  tunic,  two  inches  thick,  which,  fitting  close  to  the  body, 
protected  also  the  thighs  and  the  shoulders.  Over  this  the 
wealthier  Indians  wore  cuirasses  of  thin  gold  plate  or  silver. 
Their  legs  were  defended  by  leathern  boots  or  sandals,  trimmed 
with  gold.  But  the  most  brilliant  part  of  their  costume  was  a 
rich  mantle  of  the  plumaje,  or  feather-work,  embroidered  with 
curious  art,  and  furnishing  some  resemblance  to  the  gorgeous 
surcoat  worn  by  the  European  knight  over  his  armour  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  This  graceful  and  picturesque  dress  was  sur 
mounted  by  a  fantastic  head-piece  made  of  wood  or  leather,  rep 
resenting  the  head  of  some  wild  animal,  and  frequently  displaying 
a  formidable  array  of  teeth.  With  this  covering  the  warrior's 
head  was  enveloped,  producing  a  most  grotesque  and  hideous 
effect.  From  the  crown  floated  a  splendid  panache  of  the  richly 
variegated  plumage  of  the  tropics,  indicating,  by  its  form  and 
colours,  the  rank  and  family  of  the  wearer.  To  complete  their 
defensive  armour,  they  carried  shields  or  targets,  made  sometimes 
of  wood  covered  with  leather,  but  more  usually  of  a  light  frame  of 

1  Bandelier,  Final  Report,  part  i.,  p.  158. 


\ 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


A    PUEBLOAN    OF    SAN   JUAN,    NEW    MEXICO 
135 


136  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

reeds  quilted  with  cotton,  which  were  preferred  as  tougher  and 
less  liable  to  fracture  than  the  former.  They  had  other  bucklers, 
in  which  the  cotton  was  covered  with  an  elastic  substance,  en 
abling  them  to  be  shut  up  in  a  more  compact  form,  like  a  fan  or 
umbrella.  These  shields  were  decorated  with  showy  ornaments, 
according  to  the  taste  or  wealth  of  the  wearer,  and  fringed  with 
a  beautiful  pendant  of  feather- work.  .  .  .  Such  was  the  cos 
tume  of  the  Tlascalan  warrior,  and,  indeed,  of  that  great  family 
of  nations  generally  who  occupied  the  plateau  of  Anahuac.1  .  .  . 
They  were  particularly  struck  with  the  costume  of  the  higher 
classes,  who  wore  fine  embroidered  mantles,  resembling  the  grace 
ful  albornoz,  or  Moorish  cloak,  in  their  texture  and  fashion.2  .  .  . 
Here  they  were  met  by  several  hundred  Aztec  chiefs,  who  came 
out  to  announce  the  approach  of  Montezuma,  and  to  welcome  the 
Spaniards  to  his  capital.  They  were  dressed  in  the  fanciful  gala 
costume  of  the  country,  with  the  maxtlatl,  or  cotton  sash,  around 
their  loins,  and  a  broad  mantle  of  the  same  material,  or  of  the 
brilliant  feather-embroidery,  flowing  gracefully  down  their  shoul 
ders.  On  their  necks  and  arms  they  displayed  collars  and  brace 
lets  of  turquoise  mosaic,  with  which  delicate  plumage  was  curiously 
mingled,  while  their  ears,  under-lips,  and  occasionally  their  noses, 
were  garnished  with  pendants  formed  of  precious  stones,  or  cres 
cents  of  fine  gold.3  .  .  .  Montezuma  wore  the  girdle  and 
ample  square  cloak,  Hlmatli*  of  his  nation.  It  was  made  of  the 
finest  cotton,  with  the  embroidered  ends  gathered  in  a  knot  around 
his  neck.  His  feet  were  defended  by  sandals  having  soles  of  gold, 
and  the  leathern  thongs  which  bound  them  to  his  ankles  were 
embossed  with  the  same  metal.  Both  the  cloak  and  sandals  were 
sprinkled  with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  among  which  the 
emerald  and  the  chalchivitt — a  green  stone  of  higher  estimation 
than  any  other  among  the  Aztecs  —  were  conspicuous.  On  his 
head  he  wore  no  other  ornament  than  a  panache  of  plumes  of  the 
royal  green  which  floated  down  his  back,  the  badge  of  military, 
rather  than  of  regal  rank." 

1  Prescott's  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  pp.  439,  442. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  13. 

*Ibid.,  p.  71. 

4  The  timatli  or  tilmatli  for  men  was  a  piece  of  cloth,  according  to 
Biart,  "  four  feet  long,  which  enveloped  the  body,  and  two  corners  of  which 
were  knotted  upon  the  breast  or  upon  the  shoulder." 

'•'Ibid.,  p.  73. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


137 


These  quotations  from  Prescott  will  give  an  idea  of  the  costume 
of  the  Mexicans,  and  of  the  beautiful  feather-work  which  formed 
so  important  a  part  of  it.  Though  the  language  of  Prescott  may 
somewhat  exaggerate  the  quality  and  beauty  of  the  Mexican  gar 
ments,  we  know  from  what  the  Mexicans  and  Pueblos  manufac 
tured  afterward  that  much  skill  must  have  been  displayed  in  these 
various  fabrics.  The  cloak  of  cotton  was  probably  no  more  a  cloak 
or  mantle  than  the  blankets  woven  by  the  Pueblos  and  Navajos 
to-day;  that  is,  it  was  a  square  of  cloth  worn  about  the  shoulders. 
If  one  should  describe  the  Pueblo  in  Prescott' s  delightful  language, 
we  should  think  him  and  his  houses  and  garments  far  finer  than 
they  really  are.  To  describe  a  breech-cloth  as  a  girdle  round 
the  loins  ;  to  speak  of 
blankets  as  mantles  and 
robes  ;  moccasins  as 
sandals,  and  otherwise 
gild  description,  makes 
pleasant  reading,  but  is 
liable  to  convey  erron 
eous  impressions.  Pres 
cott' s  lack  of  general 
knowledge  of  Amerind 
customs  gave  him  a  free 
rein  and  his  poetical 
temperament  finished 
the  picture. 

Montezuma  wore  on 

his  head  "  a  panache  of  plumes,  .  .  .  the  badge  of  mili 
tary,  rather  than  of  regal  rank."  And  this  is  exactly  what 
Montezuma  was,  a  war-chief.  But  Prescott  drew  his  material 
from  the  Spaniards,  and  where  he  describes  what  they  saw,  he 
is  not,  in  all  probability,  far  from  the  mark,  although  his  lan 
guage  may  be  sometimes  rather  flowery.  The  feather-work 
was  one  of  the  remarkable  products  of  the  Aztecs.  In  an  orna 
mental  way  it  is  still  practised  in  Mexico,  and  the  birds  and  other 
objects  made  from  feathers  exhibit  a  wonderful  skill.  Mantles  of 
fur  are  mentioned  as  being  used  by  the  Aztecs,  but  these  were 
probably  constructed  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  rabbit-skin 
robes  of  the  Moki  and  the  Pai  Ute,  that  is,  by  twisting  the  skins 
into  ropes  and  then  tying  them  together.  The  cotton  weaving 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

METHOD    OF    MAKING    FEATHER-WORK 


138  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

was  done  on  a  loom  similar  to  that  now  in  use  by  the  Navajos  and 
the  Pueblos.  The  feather-work  was  probably  made  in  much  the 
same  way  as  that  of  Peru,  specimens  of  which  have  been  pre 
served  in  the  tombs.  The  figure  on  page  137  shows  the  way  the 
Peruvians  attached  the  feathers  to  the  cloth  underground,  but  in 
many  cases  the  feathers  were  woven  in  with  the  warp  and  woof, 
instead  of  being  attached  to  the  surface  in  this  way.  This  use  of 
feathers  was  not  confined  to  any  particular  locality,  but,  like  al 
most  all  the  arts  in  use  on  the  continent,  was  widely  distributed. 
Turkey  feathers  were  used  in  Virginia  for.  this  work,  and  in  Louis 
iana  the  same  bird  was  called  upon.  "  The  feather  mantles," 
writes  Du  Pratz  in  his  history  of  Louisiana,  "  are  made  on  a  frame 
similar  to  that  on  which  the  peruke  makers  work  hair  ;  they 
spread  the  feathers  in  the  same  manner  and  fasten  them  on  old 
fish-nets  or  old  mantles  of  mulberry  bark.  They  are  placed, 
spread  in  this  manner,  one  over  the  other  and  on  both  sides  ;  for 
this  purpose  small  turkey  feathers  are  used  ;  women  who  have 
feathers  of  swans  or  India  ducks,  which  are  white,  make  these 
feather  mantles  for  women  of  high  rank. ' '  1  Feather  mantles  of 
fine  quality  were  also  made  by  the  Lenape. 

Almost  every  Amerind  tribe  could  make  thread,  cord,  nets, 
mats,  and  some  kind  of  woven  stuff.  The  Mexicans,  Mayas,  and 
other  tribes  of  the  Central  region  excelled  in  these  things,  but  the 
Pueblos,  and  Navajos,  as  we  have  seen,  execute  in  modern  times 
some  admirable  fabrics,  which  the  Pueblos  also  constructed  before 
the  advent  of  the  whites. 

"  The  Mexicans  had  also,"  says  Prescott,  "  the  art  of  spinning 
a  fine  thread  of  the  hair  of  the  rabbit  and  other  animals,  which 
they  wove  into. a  delicate  web  that  took  a  permanent  dye. 
The  women,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  seemed  to  go  about  as 
freely  as  the  men.  They  wore  several  skirts  or  petticoats  of  differ 
ent  lengths,  with  highly  ornamented  borders,  and  sometimes  over 
them  loose  flowing  robes,  which  reached  to  the  ankles.  These, 
also,  were  made  of  cotton  ;  for  the  wealthier  classes,  of  a  fine 
texture,  prettily  embroidered.  No  veils  were  worn  here  (Mexico) 
as  in  some  other  parts  of  Anahuac,  where  they  were  made  of  the 
aloe  thread,  or  of  the  light  web  of  hair  above  noticed."  2  Biart3 
says  the  women  wore  "a  piece  of  cloth  cueitl,  which  they 

1  Du  Pratz,  Hist,  de  la  Louisiane,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  191,  192. 

2  Prescott's  Mexico,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  133,  134.       3L,ucien  Biart,  The  Aztecs. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


CHILKAT  CEREMONIAL  SHIRT 

I3Q 


140  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

wrapped  around  their  bodies,  and  which  descended  a  little  be 
low  the  knee  ;  over  this  skirt  they  wore  a  sleeveless  chemise 
called  huepilli." 

The  Mayas  and  other  Amerinds  of  the  Central  region  used 
woven  cloths  similar  to  those  of  the  Aztecs.  Of  the  dress  of  the 
modern  Amerinds  of  Nicaragua,  Squier  says  :  "  It  is  exceedingly 
simple.  On  ordinary  occasions  the  women  wear  only  a  white  or 
flowered  skirt  fastened  round  the  waist,  leaving  the  upper  part  of 
the  person  entirely  exposed,  or  but  partially  covered  by  a  hand 
kerchief  fastened  around  the  neck.  In  Masaya  and  some  other 
places,  a  square  piece  of  cloth  of  native  manufacture,  and  pre 
cisely  the  same  style  and  pattern  with  that  used  for  the  same 
purpose  before  the  Discovery,  supplies  the  place  of  a  skirt.  It  is 
fastened  in  some  incomprehensible  way  without  aid  of  strings  or 
pins  and  falls  from  the  hips  a  little  below  the  knees.  .  .  . 
The  men  wear  a  kind  of  cotton  drawers,  fastened  above  the 
hips,  but  frequently  reaching  no  lower  than  the  knees.  Sand 
als  supply  the  place  of  shoes,  but  for  the  most  part  both  sexes 
go  with  bare  feet."  l  The  costume  of  the  women  of  Louisi 
ana  as  depicted  by  Du  Pratz  in  an  illustration  in  his  history,  is 
almost,  if  not  quite  identical  with  the  costume  of  the  women  of 
Nicaragua. 

Fine  dressing  was  not  confined  to  the  Mexicans.  Other  Ame 
rinds  gave  some  attention  to  their  personal  appearance  as  well  as 
the  tribes  of  Mexico.  In  the  following  description  by  a  Miss  Pow 
ell,  who  visited  an  Iroquois  council  on  Buffalo  Creek,  in  1785,  of 
Captain  David,  if  the  worthy  Captain  had  been  described  as  a 
"  lord,"  and  Miss  Powell  had  been  less  skeptical  about  his  ablu 
tions,  he  might  easily  have  ranked  with  some  of  the  "  lords  "  of 
Anahuac  who  are  so  conspicuous  in  the  charming  works  of  Pres- 
cott.  Miss  Powell  declared,  "  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  did  not 
bow  with  more  grace  than  '  Captain  David.'1  He  spoke  English 
with  propriety.  His  person  was  as  tall  and  fine  as  it  was  possible 
to  imagine  ;  his  features  handsome  and  regular,  with  a  counte 
nance  of  much  softness  ;  his  complexion  not  disagreeably  dark, 
and,  said  Miss  Powell,  '  I  really  believe  he  washes  his  face.'  .  .  . 
His  hair  was  shaved  off,  except  a  little  on  top  of  his  head,  which, 
with  his  ears,  was  painted  a  glowing  red.  Around  his  head  was 
a  fillet  of  silver  from  which  two  strips  of  black  velvet,  covered  with 

1  Squier,  Nicaragua,  p.  289. 


,,r  ,    ~  UNIVERSITY 

Weaving  and  Costume  14 

X 


silver  beads  and  brooches,  hung  over  the  left  temple.  A  '  foxtail 
feather  '  in  his  scalp-lock  and  a  black  one  behind  each  ear  waved 
and  nodded  as  he  walked,  while  a  pair  of  immense  silver  ear-rings 
hung  down  to  his  shoulders.  He  wore  a  calico  shirt,  the  neck  and 
shoulders  thickly  covered  with  silver  brooches,  the  sleeves  con 
fined  above  the  elbows  with  broad  silver  bracelets  engraved  with 
the  arms  of  England,  while  four  smaller  ones  adorned  his  wrists. 
Around  his  waist  was  a  dark  scarf  lined  with  scarlet  which  hung 
to  his  feet,  while  his  costume  was  completed  by  neatly  fitting  blue 
cloth  leggins,  fastened  with  an  ornamental  garter  below  the 
knee."  '  This  elegant  gentleman  belonged  to  no  vanished  or 
mysterious  race  ;  he  was  a  modern  Iroquois.  Undoubtedly  his 
ancestors  had,  many  of  them,  with  the  means  at  their  command, 
dressed  with  equal  splendour,  and  we  may  wonder  what  kind  of  a 
description  of  them  we  would  have  had  from  the  romantic  Span 
iards  if  they  had  happened  to  meet  with  them.  Even  this  well- 
balanced  American  lady  was  considerably  overcome,  for  she  says  : 
"  Captain  David  made  the  finest  appearance  I  ever  saw  in  my 
life."  About  this  same  time,  or  to  be  accurate,  in  1776,  Father 
Escalante  met  with  Amerinds  in  Utah  whose  dress  was  very  differ 
ent.  '  '  Their  dress,  '  '  he  says,  '  '  manifests  great  poverty  ;  the  most 
decent  which  they  wear  is  a  coat  or  shirt  of  deerskin,  and  big 
moccasins  of  the  same  in  winter  ;  they  have  dresses  made  of  hare 
and  rabbit  skin."  2  In  the  latter  we  recognise  the  same  twisted 
skin  garments  that  are  still  used,  or  were  a  few  years  ago,  by  the 
Pai  Utes  and  the  Mokis.  In  central  Georgia  in  Soto's  time  the 
women  wore  a  kind  of  shawl,  "  for  covering,  wearing  one  about 
the.  body  from  the  waist  downward,  and  another  over  the  shoulder 
with  the  right  arm  left  free."  3  Spinning  and  weaving  were  long 
supposed,  by  those  who  had  not  investigated,  to  be  practised  only 
by  the  Mexican  and  Pueblo  tribes,  and  by  the  Navajos,  but  the 
Pimas  and  Maricopas  of  Arizona  were  adepts  in  these  arts  in  1857. 
The  government  agent  reports  at  that  time  :  "  They  also  spin 
and  weave  their  cotton,  by  hand,  into  blankets  of  a  beautiful 
texture,  an  art  not  acquired  from  the  Spaniards,  but  found  among 
them  more  than  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  Spaniards  first 

1  The  History  of  Erie  County,  N.Y.,  pp.  58,  59,  edited  by  H.  Perry 
Smith. 

2  Quoted  in  Captain  Simpson's  Report,  p.  494. 

3  Buckingham  Smith's  translation. 


142 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


penetrated  the  country."  The  A1  go n quins  of  Connecticut 
dressed  in  skins  "  cured  so  as  to  be  soft  and  pliable,  and  some 
times  ornamented  with  paint  and  with  beads  manufactured  from 
shells.  Occasionally  they  decked  themselves  in  mantles  made  of 
feathers  overlapping  each  other  as  on  the  back  of  the  fowl,  and 
presenting  an  appearance  of  fantastic  gayety  which,  no  doubt, 
prodigiously  delighted  the  wearers.  The  dress  of  the  women 
consisted  usually  of  two  articles  :  a  leather  skirt,  or  under  gar 
ment,  ornamented  with  fringe  ;  and  a  skirt  of  the  same  material, 
fastened  round  the  waist  with  a  belt  and  reaching  nearly  to  the 

feet.  .  .  .  Their 
hair  they  dressed 
in  a  thick  heavy 
plait  which  fell 
down  upon  the 
neck  ;  and  they 
sometimes  orna 
mented  their 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

CHILKAT   CEREMONIAL    BLANKET 


heads  with  bands 
o  f  wampum  o  r 
with  a  small  cap. 
The  men  went 
bare-headed, 
with  their  hair 
fantastically 
trimmed,  each 
according  to  his 
fancy.  One 

warrior  would  have  it  shaved  on  one  side  of  the  head  and  long 
on  the  other.  Another  might  be  seen  with  his  scalp  completely 
bare,  except  a  strip  two  or  three  inches  in  width  running  from 
the  forehead  over  to  the  nape  of  the  neck.  This  was  kept 
short,  and  so  thoroughly  stiffened  with  paint  and  bear's  grease 
as  to  stand  straight  after  the  fashion  of  a  cock's  comb,  or  the 
crest  of  a  warrior's  helmet.  The  legs  were  covered  with  leg- 
gins  of  dressed  deerskin,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  body  was 
protected  by  the  breech-cloth,  usually  called  by  the  early 
settlers,  Indian  breeches.  Moccasins,  that  is,  light  shoes  of  soft 
1  Lieutenant  Mowry,  Report,  p.  587,  Ex.  Doc.  No.  u,  35th  Cong.,  ist 
Session. 


Weaving  and  Costume  143 

dressed  leather,  were  common  to  both  sexes  ;  and  like  other  por 
tions  of  the  attire,  were  many  times  tastefully  ornamented  with 
embroidery  of  wampum.  The  men  often  dispensed  with  their 
leggins,  especially  in  summer  ;  while  in  winter  they  protected 
themselves  against  the  bleak  air  by  adding  to  their  garments 
a  mantle  of  skins.  The  male  children  ran  about  in  a  state  of 
nature  until  they  were  ten  or  twelve  years  old  ;  the  girls  were 
provided  with  an  apron,  though  of  very  economical  dimen 
sions.  .  .  .  The  women  .  .  .  used  the  paint  as  an  orna 
ment,  while  the  men  seldom  applied  it,  except  when  they  wetit 
to  war  and  wished  to  appear  very  terrible  in  the  sight  of  their 
enemies.  Sachems  and  great  men  had  caps  and  aprons  heavily 
wrought  with  different-coloured  beads.  Belts  were  also  worn  of 
the  same  material,  some  of  which  contained  so  great  a  quantity 
of  wampum  as  to  be  valued  by  the  English  colonists  at  eight 
and  ten  pounds  sterling."  1 

Here  we  discover  the  same  desire  for  distinction  of  individuals 
by  dress  that  exists  in  all  races,  and  the  same  desire  to  dress  richly 
on  the  part  of  those  possessing  wealth  or  station,  for  it  must  be 
understood  that  wealth  and  station  have  their  degrees  amongst 
the  rudest  Amerinds  as  well  as  amongst  the  highest  and  amongst 
the  Europeans.  The  dress  in  the  summer  always  differs  consider 
ably  from  that  of  winter.  In  many  tribes  little  is  worn  by  the 
men  in  summer  but  the  breech-cloth,  and  sometimes  not  even  that. 
I  recall  one  morning  when  I  was  living  in  the  Moki  village  of 
Tewa,  in  Arizona,  one  of  the  dignitaries  came  to  call  upon  me, 
as  was  a  common  custom,  and  he  had  wrapped  about  him  a  native 
blanket.  When  he  temporarily  let  this  covering  drop  away  from 
his  person,  I  noticed  that  there  was  not  even  a  breech-cloth  be 
neath.  The  small  children  of  both  sexes  played  about  in  a  state 
of  nature,  though  some  wore  a  shirt,  and  the  women  appeared  to 
have  on  only  the  one  garment,  made  of  two  small  black  blankets 
sewed  together  on  their  side  edges  and  caught  over  the  right 
shoulder  and  under  the  left.  The  Moki  women  wear  moccasins 
only  in  the  ceremonials,  or  on  some  state  occasion,  or  when  travel 
ling.  They  rarely  travel. 

Catlin  gave  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  costumes  of  the 
Amerinds  he  travelled  amongst  and  painted,  and  a  reference  to 
his  works  opens  up  a  world  of  detail  that  cannot  be  presented 

1  John  W.  De  Forrest,  History  of  the  Indians  of  Connecticut,  pp.  9-11. 


144  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

here.  Some  of  his  most  interesting  work  was  amongst  the  Man- 
dans,  of  Dakota  stock,  in  the  year  1832.'  I  will  quote  from  him 
some  general  remarks  on  the  Mandan  costume.  "  The  Mandans, 
in  many  instances,  dress  very  neatly,  and  some  of  them  splendidly. 
As  they  are  in  their  native  state,  their  dresses  are  all  of  their  own 
manufacture,  and,  of  course,  altogether  made  of  skins  of  different 
animals  belonging  to  those  regions.  There  is,  certainly,  a  reign 
ing  and  striking  similarity  of  costume  amongst  most  of  the  North 
western  tribes,  and  I  cannot  say  that  the  dress  of  the  Mandans  is 
decidedly  distinct  from  that  of  the  Crows  or  the  Blackfeet,  the 
Assiniboins,  or  the  Sioux '  ;  yet  there  are  modes  of  stitching  or 
embroidering  in  every  tribe  which  may  at  once  enable  the  traveller 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKI    WALL    DECORATION.       PINK    ON    A   WHITE   GROUND. 
MISHONGNUVI,    ARIZONA 

who  is  familiar  with  their  modes  to  detect  or  distinguish  the  dress 
of  any  tribe.  These  differences  consist  generally  in  the  fashions 
of  constructing  the  head-dress,  or  of  garnishing  their  dresses  with 
the  porcupine  quills,  which  they  use  in  great  profusion. 
The  tunic,  or  shirt,  of  the  Mandan  men  is  very  similar  in  shape  to 
that  of  the  Blackfeet  —  made  of  two  skins  of  deer,  or  mountain- 
sheep,  strung  with  scalp-locks,  beads,  and  ermine.  The  leggings, 
like  those  of  the  other  tribes  of  which  I  have  spoken,  are  made  of 
deerskins  and  shaped  to  fit  the  leg,  embroidered  with  porcupine 

1  Catlin  had  wonderful  success  in  persuading  Amerinds  to  pose  for  him. 
When  I  went  amongst  the  Navajos  and  Mokis  in  1884-855 1  found  it  next  to 
impossible  to  get  them  to  sit  for  me.  Only  one  solitary  specimen  in  the 
whole  region  was  willing  to  run  the  risk.  It  was  considered  very  "bad 
medicine." 

'2The  Crows,  Sioux,  Mandans,  and  Assiuiboins  are  the  same  stock — the 
Dakota  or  Siouan. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


quills,  and  fringed  with  scalps  from  their  enemies'  heads.  Their 
moccasins  are  made  of  buckskin,  and  neatly  ornamented  with 
porcupine  quills.  Over  their  shoulders  (or,  in  other  words,  over 
one  shoulder  and  passing  under  the  other)  they  very  gracefully 
wear  a  robe  from  a  young  buffalo's  back,  oftentimes  cut  down  to 
about  half  of  its  original  size,  to  make  it  handy  and  easy  for  use. 
Many  of  these  are  also  fringed  on  one  side  with  scalp-locks,  and 
the  flesh  side  of  the  skin  curiously  ornamented  with  pictured 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


BELLACOOLAS 


representations  of  the  creditable  events  and  battles  of  their  lives. 
Their  head-dresses  are  of  various  sorts,  and  many  of  them  ex 
ceedingly  picturesque  and  handsome,  generally  made  of  war-eagles' 
or  ravens'  quills  and  ermine.  These  are  the  most  costly  part  of 
an  Indian's  dress  in  all  this  country,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
procuring  the  quills  and  the  fur  ;  the  war-eagle  being  the  rara 
avis,  and  the  ermine  the  rarest  animal  that  is  found  in  the  country." 
Catlin  gave  two  horses  for  one  of  the  head-dresses.  This  specimen 
came  down  to  the  wearer's  feet.  These  are  now  called  "  war- 
bonnets,"  and  are  still  in  use  among  the  Sioux  and  other  tribes. 
'  There  is  occasionally,"  continues  Catlin,  "  a  chief  or  a  warrior 


146  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  so  extraordinary  renown  that  he  is  allowed  to  wear  horns  on 
his  head-dress,  which  give  to  his  aspect  a  strange  and  majestic 
effect.  These  are  made  of  about  a  third  part  of  the  horn  of  a 
buffalo  bull,  the  horn  having  been  split  from  end  to  end,  and  a 
third  part  of  it  taken  and  shaved  thin  and  light  and  highly 
polished.  These  are  attached  to  the  top  of  the  head-dress  on  each 
side  in  the  same  place  that  they  rise  and  stand  on  the  head  of  a 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TOP  VIEW  OF  CONICAL  NORTH-WEST    COAST    HAT 

Made  of  spruce  roots,  ornamented  in  red  and  black  paint,  with  totemic  device  of  a  duck 
See  figure  page  160 

buffalo,  rising  out  of  a  mat  of  ermine  skins  and  tails,  which  hang 
over  the  top  of  the  head-dress  somewhat  in  the  form  that  the  large 
and  profuse  locks  of  hair  hang  and  fall  over  the  head  of  a  buffalo 
bull."  This  head-dress  with  horns  "  is  used  only  on  certain  occa 
sions,  and  they  are  very  seldom."  ' 

Among  the  Omahas,  also  of  Dakota  stock,  garments,  Dorsey 

Ratlin,  Smithsonian  Report,  1885,  pp.  450,  451. 


Weaving  and  Costume 

o 


147 


says,  "  were  usually  made  by  the  women,  while  men  made  their 
weapons.  .  .  .  There  is  no  distinction  between  the  attire  of 
dignitaries  and  that  of  the  common  people."  1 

The  Makahs  of  the  North-west  region  (U.  S.)  manufacture  a 
kind  of  cloth  out  of  cedar  bark.  '  The  inner  bark  is  selected, 
boiled,  or  macerated,  and  then  pounded  and  hatcheled  out.  The 
bark  is  made  to  form  the  warp,  the  woof  being  made  of  grass 
thread.  This  stuff  is  pliable,  and 
makes  a  convenient  outer  garment. 
Very  pretty  capes,  edged  with  sea- 
otter  skin,  are  made  of  it.  This  tribe 
also  are  the  principal  manufacturers 
of  the  cedar  mats  which  are  used  on 
the  Sound.  These  are  entirely  of 
bark,  formed  into  narrow  strips,  and 
woven  on  the  floor.  They  are  thin 
and  perfectly  even  in  texture."  2 
Among  the  tribes  of  the  North-west  : 
"  The  women  universally  wore  a 
breech-clout  of  strands  gathered 
around  the  waist  and  falling  usually 
to  the  knees.  .  .  .  With  the  men  no 
idea  of  modesty  existed."  They 
sometimes  wear  a  bearskin  with  the 
hair  out  tied  around  the  throat. 
' '  Their  hats,  when  they  wear  any, 
are  of  the  conical  form  common  along 
the  coast."  4  A  conical  wicker  hat 
similar  to  the  Japanese  shape  is  found 
among  the  Tlinkits  (Koluschan)  and 
Chimmesyan  up  on  the  Alaskan  coast. 
I  saw  several  at  Sitka  in  the  summer 
of  1899,  but  not  in  use.  The  head  covering  of  various  tribes  differs 
considerably.  The  skull-cap,  woven  like  a  basket,  was  never  found, 
so  far  as  I  know,  in  the  Mississippi  region.  The  Pai  Utes  formerly 

1  Dorsey,  "  Omaha  Sociology,"  Third  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  310. 

2  Geo.  Gibbs,   "Tribes  of  Western  Washington  and  North-western  Ore 
gon,"  U.  S.  G,  S.  Contrib.,  vol.  i.,  partii.,  p.  220. 

3 Ibid.,  p.  219. 
.,  p.  176. 


Posed  by  Thomas  Moran 
WONSIVU,    A    PAI    UTE    GIRL 

From  photograph  by  the  Colorado  River 
Survey,  1874 


148  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

wore  caps,  or  at  least  some  of  them  did,  the  men  wearing  a  little 
buckskin  affair  tied  under  the  chin  with  strings.  The  remainder 
of  their  costume  often  consisted  of  a  string  around  the  waist  from 
which  was  suspended  front  and  rear  a  cloth  of  buckskin  reaching 
half  way  to  the  ground.  Others  wore  fine  buckskin  suits  ;  a 
fringed  shirt  and  fringed  leggings  reaching,  like  those  of  the 
Dakota,  to  the  waist.  The  southern  Utah  women  wore  conical 


A    NAVAJO    LEADER    IN    NATIVE    COSTUME 
Figure  from  photograph  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology 

caps  of  wicker-work,  like  a  bowl  upside  down,  except  that  they 
had  a  little  point  at  the  top.1  The  women's  garment  was  of  buck 
skin,  attached  at  the  neck  and  hanging  down  before  and  behind 
to  below  the  knee,  open  at  the  sides,  and  bound  around  the  waist 
by  a  buckskin  sash.  There  was  a  plentiful  adornment  of  buckskin 
fringe  also.  The  feet  were  bare  except  in  cold  weather,  when 
moccasins  were  worn.  The  younger  women  wore  a  narrow  band 
around  the  brow  composed  of  two  buckskin  strings,  covered  with 
porcupine  quills,  which  were  interwoven  to  hold  the  strings 

1  The  same  kind  of  a  wicker  cap  is  worn  by  many  California  Amerinds. 


150  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

together,  and  the  men  often  wore  a  head-dress  of  feathers,  which 
stood  straight  up  around  the  crown.  In  both  men  and  women  the 
hair  was  allowed  to  hang  down,  brushed  back  from  the  face  with 
out  braids  of  any  kind.  The  Navajo  men  wear  a  sort  of  turban  ; 
a  piece  of  red  cloth  or  a  bandana  twisted  around  the  brow,  the  hair 
being  done  up  in  a  kind  of  Greek  knot  behind.  Their  clothes 
consist  of  a  shirt  or  jacket  of  cotton  goods,  and  trousers  of  the  same 
stuff  reaching  to  just  below  the  knee  and  slashed  up  on  the  outside 
for  about  eight  inches.  They  sometimes  wear  close-fitting  breeches 
with  leggings.  This  garment  is  generally  held  at  the  waist 
by  a  belt,  which  is  often  richly  decorated  by  discs  of  silver  about 
two  by  four  inches  elaborately  engraved  in  their  native  style.  The 
trousers  are  sometimes  bound  inside  the  leggings.  Their  leggings 
are  of  buckskin,  red  or  black,  frequently  fastened  on  the  outside  by 
a  row  of  silver  half-globe  buttons  of  their  own  make  and  woven 
garters,  some  three  feet  long,  twisted  around  above  the  calf.  The 
leggings  are  also  applied  without  any  buttons  when  they  are  held 
by  the  garters.  The  moccasin  is  one  finely  made,  red  or  black,  or 
the  natural  tan  colour,  with  a  rawhide  sole  turned  up  all  round, 
and,  like  the  leggings,  often  fastened  by  several  silver  buttons. 
The  Navajos  are  extremely  fond  of  black.  The  hair  of  the  women 
is  parted  and  tied  in  a  knot  behind  very  much  the  same  as  that  of 
the  men.  Their  dress  is  now  very  like  that  of  Moki  women, 
that  is,  a  garment  that  is  attached  over  the  right  shoulder,  under 
the  left,  and  falls  about  half  way  between  the  knees  and  the 
ground,  usually  caught  in  at  the  waist  by  a  sash  or  belt.  Also 
like  the  Moki  women  they  wear  a  kind  of  combined  moccasin  and 
legging,  on  certain  occasions.  This  is  a  rawhide-soled  moccasin 
with  a  long  narrow  top-piece  which  is  wound  round  and  round  the 
leg  after  the  moccasin  is  put  on,  and  gives  an  almost  straight  line 
from  the  knee  down,  almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  Moki  custom. 
In  fact,  so  far  as  garments  are  concerned,  it  might  often  be  difficult 
to  tell  Navajo  and  Moki  women  apart.  The  Moki  women  wear 
their  hair  differently  ;  the  married  ones  making  two  cues  of  it 
which  hang  down  on  each  side  of  the  face,  usually  in  front  of  the 
shoulders,  while  the  unmarried  ones  have  theirs  done  up  in  two 
extraordinary  wheels  or  discs  standing  parallel  with  the  side  of 
the  face  or  head,  and  attached  to  it  by  a  sort  of  axle  wound  round 
with  string.  This  effect  is  obtained  by  first  dividing  the  hair  into 
two  equal  parts,  drawing  each  part  to  its  side  of  the  head  and 


Weaving  and  Costume  151 

winding  it  with  string  just  above  the  ear,  and  a  little  behind  it. 
Kach  division  is  then  again  divided,  horizontally,  into  two  equal 
parts,  and  these  parts  are  carefully  brushed  around  a  curved  stick, 
like  a  letter  U,  held  with  the  opening  sidewise,  the  upper  one  down 
and  around  and  the  lower  one  up  and  around,  till  they  are  com 
pletely  wound  over  the  U  and  spread  out  as  much  as  possible  at 
the  same  time.  Then  they  are  tied  in  the  middle  with  a  string, 
that  is,  between  the  arms  of  the  U,  and  finally,  before  withdraw 
ing  the  U,  the  two  portions  are  fully  spread,  till  when  the  U  is 
taken  out,  and  they  are  further  arranged,  they  almost  meet  and 
form  a  perfect  wheel  or  circle.  In  ordinary  practice  they  do  not 
meet,  but  resemble  a  well  tied  bow-knot  of  broad  ribbon;  but  when 
a  girl  has  a  fine  head  of  hair  that  has  been  well  cared  for,  and  her 
mother  takes  a  pride  in  dressing  her  hair  for  any  ceremon}^  or 
feast  day,  the  wheel  is  al 
most  perfect.  This  peculiar 
method  of  hair-dressing  is 
now  found  nowhere  else  in 
the  world,  except  among  the 
unmarried  women  of  the 
Coyotero  Apaches,  who  are  u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 
said  to  wear  a  coil  some-  PUEBLO  HEAD  MAT 

thing  like  it. 

Some  of  the  Pueblo  women  tie  their  hair  in  a  knot  behind 
like  the  Navajo  women  ;  in  fact,  both  Navajo  women  and  men 
closely  resemble  the  Pueblo  in  their  dress,  the  reason  in  my  opin 
ion  being  that  advanced  before  :  namely,  the  incorporation  of 
Pueblo  stock.  The  Moki  men  also  sometimes  wear  their  hair 
like  Navajos,  but  full-blood  Navajos  have  taken  up  their  residence 
with  the  Moki,  so  it  may  be  confined  to  these  and  their  child 
ren.  The  regular  Moki  method  of  dressing  a  man's  hair  is  to 
"  bang  "  it  across  the  eyebrows,  cut  the  side  locks  straight  back 
on  the  lower  line  of  the  ear,  and  gather  the  remainder  into  a  knot 
behind.1  The  brush  used  is  composed  of  a  bunch  of  stiff  grass 

1  Gushing  says  of  the  early  Zunis  :  "They  wore  but  scant  clothing  be 
sides  their  robes  and  blankets — breech-cloths  and  kilts,  short  for  the  men, 
long  for  the  women,  and  made  of  shredded  bark  and  rushes  or  fibre ;  san 
dals  also  of  fibre.  .  .  .  The  hair  was  bobbed  to  the  level  of  the  eyebrows 
in  front,  but  left  long  and  hanging  at  the  back,  etc." —  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  358. 


152  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

tied  round  the  middle  with  a  string.  Both  Navajo  and  Moki  men 
as  well  as  those  of  other  tribes  now  wear  white  men's  trousers 
when  obtainable.  The  costumes  worn  in  the  various  ceremonials 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


NAVAJOS 

of  the  Navajos,  Pueblos,  Iroquois,  and  other  Amerinds  are  so 
numerous  and  so  varied  that  there  is  no  space  in  a  chapter  like 
this  for  a  description  of  them. 


Weaving  and  Costume  153 

In  the  line  of  embroidery  comes  the  beadwork,  see  p.  125, 
the  ornamentation  with  quills,  and  embroidery  with  yarns.  I  will 
only  mention  the  embroidery  of  the  Mokis,  which  is  done  on  the 
ends  of  broad  cotton  sashes,  with  coloured  yarns.  This  is  the 
only  form  in  which  I  have  seen  it.  The  pattern  is  elaborate, 
and  often  a  foot  or  more  at  each  end  of  a  sash  will  be  thus 
ornamented.  The  Pueblo  women  wore  a  roll  on  the  head  on 
which  a  water-jar  was  balanced.  Coronado  mentions  this  thus  : 
"  I  also  send  two  rolls,  such  as  the  women  usually  wear  on  their 
heads  when  they  bring  water  from  the  spring,  the  same  way  that 
they  do  in  Spain.  One  of  these  Indian  women,  with  one  of  these 
rolls  on  her  head,  will  carry  a  jar  of  water  up  a  ladder  without 
touching  it  with  her  hands. ' '  '  Some  of  the  Pueblo  women  still  use 
rings  to  carry  water-jars  on  their  heads.  See  figure  on  page  151. 

Jaramillo  speaks  of  the  natives  of  the  first  village  of  "  Cibola  " 
as  having  clothing  of  "  deerskins,  very  carefully  tanned,  and  they 
also  prepare  some  tanned  cowhides,  with  which  they  cover  them 
selves,  which  are  like  shawls  and  a  great  protection.  They  have 
square  cloaks  of  cotton,  some  larger  than  others,  about  a  yard  and 
a  half  long.  The  Indians  wear  them  thrown  over  the  shoulder 
like  a  gypsy  and  fastened  with  one  end  over  the  other,  with  a 
girdle,  also  of  cotton."  *  Other  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico  he  de 
scribes  as  having  "  some  long  robes  of  feathers  which  they  braid, 
joining  the  feathers  with  a  sort  of  thread  ;  and  they  also  make 
them  of  a  sort  of  plain  weaving  with  which  they  make  the  cloaks 
with  which  they  protect  themselves."  In  the  Reladdn  Postrera, 
the  Cibola  dress  is  described  also,  and  I  add  it  here  because  these 
accounts  show  so  conclusively  that  the  art  of  weaving  was  in  full 
practice  in  this  northern  country  before  the  Europeans  entered  it. 
"  Some  of  these  people  wear  cloaks  of  cotton  and  of  the  maguey 
(or  Mexican  aloe)  and  of  tanned  deerskin,  and  they  wear  shoes 
made  of  these  skins,  reaching  up  to  the  knees.  They  also  make 
cloaks  of  the  skins  of  hares  and  rabbits,  with  which  they  cover 
themselves.  The  women  wear  cloaks  of  the  maguey,  reaching 
down  to  the  feet,  with  girdles  ;  they  wear  their  hair  gathered 
about  the  ears  like  little  wheels."  3  I  would  specially  call  atten 
tion  to  the  similarity  to  the  costume  of  the  present  Moki,  even  to 

1  "Coronado  Letter,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  562. 

2  "  Narrative  of  Jaramillo,"  Ibid.,  pp.  586,  587. 

3  "  Relaci6n  Postrera  de  Sivola,"  Ibid.,  p.  569. 


154 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


the  hair-dressing.  The  Seminole  men  had  a  singular  way  of  wear 
ing  their  hair.  It  was  cut ' '  close  to  the  head,  except  a  strip  about 
an  inch  wide,  running  over  the  front  of  the  scalp  from  temple  to 
temple,  and  another  strip,  of  about  the  same  width,  perpendicular 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

SEMINOLE    MAN'S    AND    WOMAN'S   COSTUME 

to  the  former,  crossing  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  nape  of  the 
neck.  At  each  temple  a  heavy  tuft  was  allowed  to  hang  to  the 
bottom  of  the  lobe  of  the  ear.  The  long  hair  of  the  strip  crossing 
to  the  neck  is  generally  gathered  and  braided  into  two  ornamental 
queues."  '  The  mustache  is  worn  among  the  Seminole,  Navajo, 
1  C.  MacCauley,  "Seminole  Indians  of  Florida,"  Fifth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu. 
Eth.,  p.  486. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


155 


Tlinkit,  Eskimo,  and  other  tribes.  Some  Eskimo  shave  a  round 
place  on  the  crown  of  the  head.  Some  Amerinds  also  wear  a 
small  beard. 

Many  Amerinds,  especially  the  men,  wore,  as  before  mentioned, 
nothing  whatever  in  mild  weather,  and  even  in  winter  the  dress 
of  some,  especially  in  the  more  southerly  regions,  was  far  from 
elaborate.  I  remember  one  February,  in  the  mountains  of  Ari 
zona,  visiting  a  camp  of  Shevwits  to  have  a  talk  with  the  chief. 
Proceeding  toward  his  wikiup,  I  found  him  near  it  lying  naked, 
basking  in  the  sun,  only  partly  covered  by  a  rabbit-skin  robe. 
He  seemed  to  be  warm  and  happy,  the  spot  being  a  sheltered  one 
in  a  canyon,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  being  comfortably  warm.  In  a 
Journal  of  a  Voyage  to  New  York  in  1679-80,  the  authors,  speaking 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

EAR-PERFORATING    AND    HAIR-DRESSING    OF    SEMINOLES 

of  the  natives  near  Sandy  Hook,  said  :  "  They  wear  something  in 
front,  over  the  thighs,  and  a  piece  of  duffels,  like  a  blanket, 
around  the  body,  and  this  is  all  the  clothing  they  have.  Their 
hair  hangs  down  from  their  head  in  strings,  well  smeared  with 
fat,  and  sometimes  with  quantities  of  little  beads  twisted  in  it  out 
of  pride."  ' 

1  Memoirs  Long-  Island  Hist.  Soc.y  vol.  i.,  p.  99,   "Journal  of  a  Voyage 
to  New  York  in  1679-80." 


156  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

In  war  the  body  was  generally  naked  in  many  tribes.1  The 
Navajo  warrior  wore  absolutely  nothing  but  the  breech-cloth,  and 
I  am  not  sure  that  he  wore  even  that.  In  some  tribes  the  warriors 
wore  a  head-dress,  either  a  kind  of  turban  or  a  feather  head-dress. 
The  Dakotas  wore  their  long  trailing  war-bonnets  of  feathers,  or 
not  possessing  one,  certain  feathers  in  their  hair,  according  to  their 
standing  as  warriors  ;  and  sometimes  their  leggings.  Of  course 
each  carried  bow,  quiver,  shield,  and  such  weapons  of  his  tribe  as 
were  in  vogue.  On  the  North-west  coast  a  protective  armour  was 
employed,  and  such  a  practice  obtained  in  other  regions,  notably 
among  the  Aztecs  and  other  Mexicans,  who  made  a  thick  quilted 
cotton  armour,  as  was  noted  in  the  quotations  from  Prescott. 
The  subject  of  armour,  however,  belongs  to  another  chapter.  The 
wearing  of  rings  in  the  nose  and  ears,  and  the  perforation  of  the 
ears,  while  a  part  of  costume,  more  properly  belongs  to  customs. 
In  the  "  ghost  "  excitement  of  a  few  years  ago,  special  shirts  were 
donned,  and  in  the  battles  resulting  from  this  craze,  these  shirts 
were  worn  because  they  were  thought  to  be  proof  against  bullets 
and  all  other  weapons.  "  During  the  dance,"  says  Mooney,  "  it 
was  worn  as  an  outside  garment,  but  was  said  to  be  worn  at  other 
times  under  the  ordinary  dress.  Although  the  shape,  fringing, 
and  feather  adornment  were  practically  the  same  in  every  case, 
considerable  variation  existed  in  regard  to  the  painting,  the  de 
signs  on  some  being  very  simple,  while  the  others  were  fairly 
covered  with  representations  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  the  sacred 
things  of  their  mythology,  and  the  visions  of  the  trance.  The 
feathers  attached  to  the  garment  were  always  those  of  the  eagle, 
and  the  thread  used  in  the  sewing  was  always  the  old-time  sinew." 
The  approved  material  of  the  "  ghost-shirt"  was  buckskin,  but 
where  this  could  not  be  had  the  shirt  was  made  of  cotton  cloth. 

In  the  Far  North,  clothing  is  imperative  all  the  year  round,  and 
about  every  minute  of  the  time,  out-of-doors.  Yet  the  garments 
of  the  Eskimo  often  do  not  quite  meet  around  the  waist,  so  that  in 
bending  over  the  bare  back  is  exposed  to  the  cold.  In  their  houses, 
too,  they  often  wear  very  little  ;  nothing  more  than  a  kind  of  deer 
skin  drawers.  The  material  of  their  clothing  is  entirely  fur-skins; 

1  See  chapter  on  Weapons,  and  note  also  the  quotation  from  Prescott 
— pp.  134  and  136. 

'''James  Mooney,  "The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.y  pp.  789,  790;  see  also  Chap.  IX.,  this  work. 


Weaving  and  Costume 


157 


though  the  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo  sometimes  wear  trousers  of  jean, 
or  denim,  obtained  in  trade.  Up  to  a  certain  age  the  children  of 
both  sexes  are  dressed  much  alike,  and  the  smaller  ones  scrabbling 
about  the  bottom  of  a  umiak,  or  skin  boat,  can  hardly  be  distin 
guished  at  first  glance  from  some  kind  of  a  bear  cub.  At  Plover 
Bay,  Siberia,  where  the  natives  resemble  the  Eskimo,  I  saw  one 
small  child  in  arms,  that  seemed  to  be  completely  sewed  up  in 
skins  with  the  hair  side  in,  its  arms  and  legs  looking  like  the 


' 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

THE   GHOST-SHIRT,    SIMPLE    FORM 

stumps  left  after  a  surgical  operation.  Of  the  skin 
of  the  child  nothing  was  to  be  seen  except  its 
face,  its  head,  too,  being  entirely  enveloped.  This 
was  in  the  middle  of  July,  when  the  far-away  Moki  children 
would  be  scurrying  about  without  a  thread  to  disguise  them. 
The  children  of  the  Eskimo  proper,  on  our  side  of  Bering 
Strait,  were  clothed,  as  mentioned,  in  skins  with  the  fur  side 
out.  Reindeer,  otter,  fox,  and  seal  seem  to  furnish  the  bulk  of 


158  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


their  furs,  but  a  number  of  other  skins  and  furs  are  used  when 
they  can  get  them.  Murdoch,  Boas,  and  Turner  have  given  such 
careful  detailed  accounts  of  the  Eskimo  in  the  various  regions  they 
visited,1  that  I  refer  the  reader  to  them  for  full  information,  pre 
senting  here  only  sufficient  to  convey  a  general  idea  of  the  cloth 
ing.  "  The  chief  material  (at  Point  Barrow)  is  the  skin  of  the 
reindeer  (caribou),"  says  Murdoch,  "  which  is  used  in  various 

stages  of  pelage.  Fine,  short- 
haired  summer  skins,  especially 
those  of  does  and  fawns,  are  used 
for  making  dress  garments  and 
underclothes.  The  heavier  skins 
are  used  for  every-day  working 
clothes,  while  the  heaviest  winter 
skins  furnish  extra  warm  jackets 
for  cold  weather,  warm  winter 
stockings  and  mittens.  .  .  . 
The  man's  dress  consists  of  the 
usual  loose  hooded  frock,  without 
opening  except  at  the  neck  and 
wrists.  This  reaches  j  ust  over  the 
hips,  rarely  about  to  mid-thigh, 
where  it  is  cut  off  square,  and 
is  usually  confined  by  a  girdle  at 
the  waist.  Under  this  garment 
is  worn  a  similar  one,  usually  of 
lighter  skin  and  sometimes  with 
out  a  hood.  The  thighs  are  clad 
in  one  or  two  pairs  of  tight-fit 
ting  knee-breeches,  confined  round 
the  hips  by  a  girdle  and  usually 

secured  by  a  drawstring  below  the  knee,  which  ties  over  the  tops 
of  the  boots.  On  the  legs  and  feet  are  worn,  first,  a  pair  of  long, 
deerskin  stockings  with  the  hair  inside  ;  then  slippers  of  tanned 
sealskin,  in  the  bottom  of  which  is  spread  a  layer  of  whalebone 
shavings,  and  outside  a  pair  of  close-fitting  boots,  held  in  place 
round  the  ankle,  usually  reaching  above  the  knee,  and  ending 

'Murdoch,  "The  Point  Barrow  Eskimo,"  Ninth  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.; 
Boas,  "The  Central  Eskimo,"  Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.;  Turner,  "Hud 
son  Bay  Eskimo,"  Eleventh  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    BOOTS 


Weaving  and  Costume  159 

by  a  string  with  a  rough  edge,  which  is  covered  by  the  breeches. 
.  .  .  The  boots  are  of  reindeer  skin,  with  white  sealskin  soles 
for  winter  and  dry  weather,  but  in  summer  waterproof  boots  of 
black  sealskin  with  soles  of  white  whaleskin,  etc.,  are  worn."  ' 

The  woman's  frock  is  much  like  the  man's,  in  the  Point  Barrow 
region,  only  it  has  tails,  or  aprons,  front  and  rear,  rounded  at  the 
bottom.  In  the  Hudson  Bay  region,  this  garment  is  shaped  more 
at  the  waist,  and  the  tails  are  lance-shaped  and  narrower,  while  the 
front  one  is  much  shorter  than  the  back.  At  Point  Barrow  there 
is  also  worn  by  the  men  a  cloak  or  mantle  of  deerskin,  in  extremely 
cold  weather.  These  cloaks  are  put  on  over  the  head,  and  fall 
down  all  round,  being  fastened  at  the  throat  by  strings.  They 
are  not  of  one  piece.  The  men's  leg  coverings  come  only  to  the 
knee,  but  the  women's  are  long  enough  to  reach  from  the  feet  to 
the  waist,  and  the  moccasin  is  attached  to  the  bottom.  The  edge 
of  the  moccasin  sole  is  crimped  to  make  it  smaller  at  the  top,  and 
this  is  the  case  with  the  soles  of  the  boots  made.  This  crimping 
is  done  by  the  teeth.  The  wet-weather  boots  are  waterproof  and 
light,  but  there  is  a  diasgreeable  odour  about  them.  This  odour  is 
more  pronounced  in  some  of  the  hastily  made  stockings  which  are 
worn  inside  the  boots.  I  bought  a  pair  of  the  common  sealskin 
stockings  made  with  hair  side  in  at  Port  Clarence,  but  their  smell 
was  something  unbearable.  For  a  waterproof  garment  they 
take  the  entrails  of  the  seal  and,  splitting  them  longitudinally, 
sew  together  the  strips  thus  obtained  in  the  desired  shape.  Coats 
made  in  this  way  are  durable  and  light,  and  answer  the  purpose 
admirably.  Dr.  Kane  mentions  a  dress  he  saw  where  a  man  wore 
"  booted  trousers  of  white  bearskin,  which  at  the  end  of  the  foot 
were  made  to  terminate  with  the  claws  of  the  animal."  2 

In  the  middle  and  upper  Mississippi  region,  according  to 
Hunter,  there  were  tribes  who  made  blankets  of  the  wool  of  the 
buffalo,  notably  the  Osages,  who  were  of  Siouan  stock.  Their 
method  of  procedure  seems  to  have  been  very  like  that  of  the 
Navajos  and  Mokis,  to  whom  they  are  not  related,  except  that  they 
belong  to  the  Amerind  race.  Hunter  says  :  "  The  hair  of  the 
buffalo  and  other  animals  is  sometimes  manufactured  into  blankets; 
the  hair  is  first  twisted  by  hand  and  wound  into  balls.  The  warp 
is  then  laid  of  a  length  to  answer  the  size  of  the  intended  blanket, 
crossed  by  three  small  smooth  rods  alternately  beneath  the  threads, 

1  Murdoch.  2Dr.  Kane,  Arctic  Exploration,  vol.  i.,  p.  203. 


160  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

and  secured  at  each  end  to  stronger  rods  supported  on  forks,  at  a 
short  distance  above  the  ground.  Thus  prepared  the  woof  is  filled 
in,  thread  by  thread,  and  pressed  closely  together,  by  means  of  a 
long  flattened  wooden  needle.  When  the  weaving  is  finished,  the 
ends  of  the  warp  and  woof  are  tied  into  knots,  and  the  blanket  is 
ready  for  use. ' '  ' 

!John  D.  Hunter,  Memoirs  of  a  Captive  among  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  London,  1823,  pp.  289,  290. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

RAIN    HAT,    HAIUA 
See  figure  page  146 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TOUCAN    OF    SQUIER    AND    DAVIS,  REALLY    A   CROW 


CHAPTER  VII 

CARVING,    MODELLING,    SCULPTURE 

THE  shaping  of  objects  in  clay,  wood,  or  stone,  or  other  ma 
terial,  known  as  carving,  modelling,  etc.,  constitutes  sculp 
ture.  Some  form  of  these  methods  was  in  use  in  very 
primitive  times  for  the  production  of  weapons  or  tools  of  wood, 
bone,  or  stone.  But  the  greatest  schools  of  sculpture  were  basketry 
and  pottery,  for  in  the  practice  of  these  arts  a  sense  of  form  and 
proportion  could  not  be  dispensed  with.  Thus  sculpture  finds  its 
birth  in  several  arts,  but  particularly  in  basketry,  stone-shaping, 
and  pottery.  Taken  all  in  all,  the  Mayas  of  Yucatan  seem  to  have 
been  the  greatest  artists  and  sculptors,  and  as  we  travel  northward 
from  there  the  skill  in  art  gradually  diminishes  till,  on  passing  the 
old  Aztec  realm,  it  drops  off  rapidly.  Far  to  the  northward  the 
"  Moundbuilders  "  exhibited  a  moderate  skill  and  in  some  objects 
a  similarity  to  Mexican  work,  and  still  farther  to  the  north-west 
ward  the  Haidas,  Kwakiutls,  etc.,  in  their  totem  poles,  canoes, 
etc.,  show  not  only  a  singular  proficiency  in  carving  in  wood,  but 
also  similarities  to  some  of  the  Mexican  work. 

Masks,  pipes,  rattles,  and  other  ceremonial  paraphernalia  gave 
the  Amerind  sculptor  much  to  do.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  though, 
that  all  members  of  a  tribe  possessed  the  sculptor's  power.  There 
was  as  much  variation  as  we  now  find  among  ourselves.  It  is  not 
everyone  of  our  people  who  can  model  a  statue,  or  even  carve  the 
rudest  shape  imitating  man.  So  it  was  with  the  Amerind.  He  had 

his  arrow-makers,  his  skilful  potters,  his  great  carvers,  who  were 
ii 

161 


1 62  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

employed  by  the  less  skilful  to  do  their  work.  To-day,  among  the 
Amerinds  of  the  North-west  coast,  there  are  specialists  who  carve 
the  totem  poles,  and  obtain  high  prices.  The  totem  poles  and 
house-posts  are  often  elaborate,  being  covered  almost  from  top  to 


Photograph  by  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899 

DESERTED    VILLAGE    NEAR    CAPE  FOX,    ALASKA 
Showing  arrangement  of  totem  poles  and  houses  along  the  shore 

bottom  with  figures  of  totemic  animals.  The  carving  is  often  on 
a  large  scale,  as  the  totem  poles  are  frequently  more  than  fifty  feet 
in  height.  They  are  planted  several  feet  in 
the  ground,  then  there  are  several  feet  plain, 
and  from  that  on  to  near  the  top  they  may  be 
covered  with  carving,  while  surmounting  the 
whole  is  a  figure  —  bird,  fish,  or  bear,  or  other 
animal  —  of  large  proportions.  These  poles 
stand  in  front  of  the  house,1  and  are  an  indica 
tion  of  the  clan  or  clans  to  which  the  person  or 
persons  who  erected  it  belong.  The  Haidas 
and  the  Tlinkits  specially  excel  in  totem  poles. 
The  execution  of  the  figures  is  often  extremely 
good  in  a  barbaric  way.  Besides  the  carved 
poles  there  are  often  the  carved  columns  or  posts 
inside  the  houses.  These  posts  serve  to  support 


INTERIOR    HOUSE- 
COLUMN 

Sketch    by   author    from 
post  at  Cape  Fox  Village, 

Alaska 


1  Sometimes  two  high  poles  are  set  up,  between  which,  at  a  potlatch  or 
"grease  feast v"  the  piles  of  blankets  forming  payment  for  a  "copper"  are 
laid.  These  are  called  "blanket-poles." 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 

the  two  great  rafters  on  which  the  jack- 
rafters  rest,  and  are  often  elaborate.  At 
a  deserted  village  in  south-east  Alaska 
(Cape  Fox),  I  saw  two  of  these  col 
umns,  each  representing  a  huge  bird, 
the  wings  being  split  out  of  cedar, 
quite  thin,  and  attached  to  the  post 
with  a  diagonally  forward  direction,  the 
rest  of  the  bird  being  erect  and  facing 
the  room,  the  posts  being  within  about 
six  feet  of  the  rear  of  the  structure. 
Its  tail  was  carved  out  of  the  post  in  a 
sort  of  bass-relief,  the  remainder  of  the 
post  being  squared  up  both  below  and 
above,  and  on  the  sides  of  the  figure, 
except  where  the  head  was.  The  latter 
had  a  huge  beak,  of  the  carnivorous 
type.  On  the  breast  was  a  singular 
round  face.  The  whole  was  brightly 
painted  in  reds,  yellows,  and  blacks. 
The  accompanying  figure  represents 
another  of  the  house-  posts  of  thi  s  village 
which  is  now  at  Michigan  University. 
It  was  similarly  painted.  The  carving 
of  these  tribes  is  done  almost  entirely 
in  wood,  so  that  had  they  disappeared 
a  century  or  so  before  our  coming  there 
would  have  been  found  scarcely  a  trace 
of  their  work.  In  like  manner  the 
work  of  the  tribes  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  may  have  disappeared — that  is, 
supposing  that  they  carved  in  wood, 
which  is  probable.  There  is  a  great 
similarity  between  the  carving  of  the 
Haida  and  the  Tlinkit  totem  poles,  yet  MAJ°R  PART  OF INTERIOR  HOUSE- 

'  J      POST  FROM  CAPE  FOX  VILLAGE, 

these  tribes  are  of  different  stocks.    An  s.  E.  ALASKA 

animal  resembling  a  frog  seems  to  be  Presented  to  University  of  Michigan 

,      ..  ,  by  E.  H.  Harriman.     Height,  n  ft. 

very  common  as  a  totem  in  both  stocks.      ?  in. ;  width,  3  ft. ;  thickness,  12  to  15 

TT  r-  *  -,  i  in.  ;   one  piece  of  spruce.      Painted 

Muman  figures  are  also  carved  on  the      m  several  colours.  Photograph  by 

_    i     _  j  -i         j  r  Professor  Cole,  University  of  Michi- 

poles,  and  strange  heads  are  frequent.       gan 


164  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


The  Haidas  have  become  famous  for  their  gigantic  canoes 
carved  from  single  logs  and  elaborately  decorated.1  The  other 
Amerinds  of  this  region  also  dig  out  fine  boats  from  the  huge  logs 
they  obtain  so  easily  in  the  forest,  but  there  are  none  equal  to 
those  of  the  Haida,  who,  indeed,  require  specially  good  boats  for 
navigating  the  waters  around  their  island,  Queen  Charlotte's. 
They  are  the  best  carvers  of  all  the  tribes 
now  living  north  of  Mexico.  Their 
work  is  grotesque,  corresponding  with 
the  singular  mythology  of  the  artists 
and  their  inability  to  render  accurately 
the  forms  they  see  about  them.  Com 
binations  of  human  and  animal  forms 
are  often  seen,  such  as  the  panther-man 
found  by  Swan  in  this  region — a  crouch 
ing  figure  with  an  attempt  at  a  panther's 
head  and  forelegs,  with  the  hind  legs  hu 
man.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all 
the  Haida  works  from  an  artistic  point 
of  view  is  the  group  called  the  "  Bear- 
mother,"  2  now  in  the  National  Museum 
at  Washington,  and  made  by  Skaows- 
keavy  one  of  the  tribe.  It  apparently 
shows  European  influence.  The  lines  are 
more  flowing  and  soft  than  the  ordinary 
Amerind  method  of  execution,  and  the 
conception  is  more  in  range  with  Eu 
ropean  ideas.  This  may  be  accidental, 
however,  and  merely  in  the  line  of  the  sculptor's  development. 
The  material  is  slate.  The  subject  is  a  child  at  the  breast  of  the 
"  Bear-mother."  The  story  of  the  bear-mother,  as  told  by  J.  G. 
Swan,  is  that  "a  number  of  Indian  squaws  were  in  the  woods 
gathering  berries  when  one  of  them,  the  daughter  of  a  chief, 
spoke  in  terms  of  ridicule  of  the  whole  bear  species.  The  bears 
descended  on  them  and  killed  all  but  the  chief's  daughter,  whom 
the  king  of  the  bears  took  to  wife.  She  bore  him  a  child,  half 
human  and  half  bear.  The  carving  represents  the  agony  of  the 

1  There  is  a  fine  specimen  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
New  York. 

2  See  Tenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  478. 


Sketch  by  the  author 

TOTEM    POLE    WITH    BEAR 
ON   THE   TOP     WRANGELL 


Carving,  Modelling,  Sculpture 


165 


mother  in  suckling  this  rough  and  uncouth  offspring."  From 
an  art  standpoint,  one  failure  in  the  execution  of  this  conception 
is  that  the  child  does  not  suggest  sufficiently  its  half-bear  char 
acter.  Nevertheless,  it  is  an  ex 
traordinary  work  for  an  Amerind. 
All  the  Amerinds  of  the 
North-west  coast  carve  wooden 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TERRA-COTTA    STATUETTE,   CHIRIQUI. 
ACTUAL  SIZE 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

THE   BEA*R-MOTHER,    HAIDA, 
N.  W.  COAST 


masks,  but  here  again,  the  Haidas  excel,  though  the  Tlinkits  are 
not  far  behind.  It  is  the  same  with  the  other  work,  boxes,  rattles, 
etc.  Some  of  the  bowls,  hollowed  from  a  single  piece  of  wood, 
and  carved  on  the  exterior  with  their  strange  figures,  and  polished, 
have  a  decided  artistic  merit.  The  Innuit  also  make  wooden 


1 66 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


masks,  but  they  are  crude  when  compared  with  those  of  Queen 
Charlotte  Island,  or  the  mainland  in  that  vicinity.  One  feature 
of  all  these  North-west  masks,  specially  noted  by  Dall,1  which  re 
sembles  Mexican  carvings,  is  the  protruding  tongue  touching  an 
animal.  The  protruding  tongue  is  an  index  of  life  if  firmly  held 
forth,  according  to  Squier,  while  if  it  is  loose  and  dangling  at  one 

side  it  signifies 
death  or  captivity. 
Dall  concludes  that 
the  touch  of  the 
tongue  symbolises 
the  "  transmission 
of  spiritual  quali 
ties  or  powers."  In 
the  totem  poles  this 
protruding  tongue 
touching  an  animal 
is  common,  while 
frequently  the 
tongue  protrudes 
without  touching 
any  other  person 
or  thing.  A  totem 
represents  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  individual  or  clan,  and  there 
fore  the  closer  the  association  with  it  the  better  ;  hence  the  idea 
of  placing  the  tongue  upon  it. 

"  A  person,"  says  Boas,  "  may  have  the  general  crest  of  his 
clan  and,  besides,  use  as  his  personal  crest  such  guardian  spirits 
as  he  has  acquired.  This  accounts  partly  for  the  great  multi 
plicity  of  combinations  of  crests  which  we  observe  on  the  carvings 
of  these  people.  .  .  .  The  crest  is  used  for  ornamenting  ob 
jects  belonging  to  a  member  of  the  clan  ;  they  are  carved  on 
columns  intended  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  a  deceased  rela 
tive,  painted  on  the  house  front  or  carved  on  a  column  which  is 
placed  in  front  of  the  house,  and  are  also  shown  as  masks  in 
festivals  of  the  clan."  2  Some  of  the  grave  monuments  of  the 
Kwakiutls,  the  Chimmesyans,  the  Tlinkits,  and  others  of  the  re- 

1  W.  H.  Dall,  Third  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  112. 

2  Franz  Boas,    <(  The   Kwakiutl    Indians,"   Rep.  Nat.  Mus.,   1895,  pp. 
323,  324- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

WOODEN    MASKS,    N.   W.   COAST 


Carving,    Modelling,   Sculpture 


167 


gion  are  ambitious  carvings  and  represent  considerable  labour  on 
the  part  of  the  sculptor.  One  grave  I  saw  at  Cape  Fox  was  presided 
over  by  two  huge  wooden  bears,  the  whole  sheltered  by  a  neat 
roof  on  posts  and  surrounded  by  a  balustrade.  The  animals  must 
have  been  at  least 
four  and  a  half  feet 
high.  Boas  de 
scribes  a  grave- 
monument  bird 
carved  out  of  cedar 
bark,  which  is  six 
feet  high  and  about 
twelve  feet  from  tip 
to  tip  of  the  ex 
tended  wings.  This 
bird  is  upright  like 
the  one  carved  on 
the  house-post 
mentioned  above, 
and,  like  that,  has 
on  its  stomach  the 
carved  representa 
tion  of  a  face. 
This  bird's  wings 
were  originally 
painted  black  to  re 
present  feathers, 
but  this  decoration 
has  worn  off.  It 
is  now  in  the  Amer 
ican  Museum.  The 
Kwakiutls  also  u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 
have  carved  some 
statues  in  wood  re 
presenting  chiefs  in  a  state  of  nature.  These  are  extremely  crude, 
but  are  superior  to  much  of  the  Moundbuilder  work  as  shown 
in  the  pipes  and  other  carvings  that  have  been  preserved,  and  not 
greatly  behind  the  Mexican.  Double-headed  birds  and  animals 
figure  prominently  among  the  carvings  and  drawings  of  the 
North-west  coast  tribes,  such  as  the  double-headed  "  thunder 


KWAKIUTL    CARVING,    N.  W.   COAST 


1 68  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

bird,"  the  double-headed  snake,  etc.  Boas  obtained  one  of  the 
latter  among  the  Kwakiutls  which  he  describes  as  having  a 
head  at  each  end  and  a  human  head  in  the  middle.  It  is  forty- 
two  inches  in  length  and  about  six  inches  wide.  It  is  "  worn 
in  front  of  the  stomach  and  secured  with  cords  passing  around 
the  waist."  The  fabulous  animal  this  affair  represents  has  "  the 
power  to  assume  the  shape  of  a  fish.  To  eat  it  and  even  to  touch 
or  to  see  it  is  sure  death,  as  all  the  joints  of  the  unfortunate 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    CARVED   IVORY    DRUM-HANDLES. 


one  become  dislocated,  the  head  being  turned  backward.  But 
to  those  who  enjoy  supernatural  help  it  may  bring  power."  1 
These  North-west  tribes  seem  to  love  to  carve,  and  decorate  almost 
everything  that  will  admit  of  it  in  this  manner.  In  the  vicinity 
of  Fort  Rupert  there  are  on  the  beach  a  number  of  rock  carvings. 
These  represent  faces  of  sea  monsters,  and  also  some  of  them 
human  faces. 


Franz  Boas,    "The   Kwakiutl  Indians,"  Rep.   Nat.   Mus.,   1895,  pp. 


370, 


Carving,   Modelling,  Sculpture  169 

Amongst  the  Eskimos  carving  is  limited,  generally,  to  a  sort  of 
engraving  on  bone  and  ivory,  except  in  the  matter  of  masks,  which 
are  rudely  shaped  out  of  wood  without  any  of  the  elaborate  finish 
that  is  observed  in  the  work  of  Amerinds  farther  south.  The 
wood  they  have  had  to  work  with  is  not  the  kind  that  promotes 
carving,  and  ivory  is  a  rather  difficult  material  to  shape.  Never 
theless,  they  occasionally,  form  some  attractive  little  heads  from  it, 
to  adorn  the  end  of  a  harpoon  line  or  something  of  that  sort.  They 
also  shape  their  drill  bows  and  other  implements  to  some  extent 
and  decorate  them  with  neat  engraving.  Some  of  these  decorations 
are  very  pleasing,  and  exhibit  the  same  taste  for  symmetrical  orna 
mentation  that  is  found  throughout  the  continent.  When  they 
attempt  to  represent  form  they  are  generally  successful  in  giving 
it  the  proper  character  with  less  of  the  childish  grotesqueness  that 
is  seen  in  most  Amerind  work.  How  much  the  long  intercourse 
with  Europeans  on  whalers  has  modified  the  art  efforts  of  the 
Eskimo  it  is  not  possible  to  judge.  Murdoch  '  gives  illustrations 
of  seals  and  whales  shaped  by  the  Point  Barrow  Eskimo,  but  aside 
from  the  character  of  the  animal  being  generally  fairly  well  ren 
dered,  there  is  little  that  is  artistically  interesting  in  the  work. 
What  I  mean  by  character  is  that  you  can  generally  tell  what  is 
intended  by  an  Eskimo  carving,  which  is  not  always  the  case  with 
the  sculptured  efforts  of  other  Amerinds,  though  the  finish  may  be 
better.  Boas  gives  illustrations  of  the  carved  work  of  the  Central 
Eskimo,8  which  show  the  same  characteristics  as  the  Western. 

The  Far  Northern  tribes,  as  a  rule,  are  inferior  to  the  other 
Amerinds,  in  sculptural  work,  yet  the  Eskimo,  mechanically, 
were,  in  many  respects,  apparently  in  advance  of  all  others.  They 
possessed  the  lamp,  the  only  stock  on  the  continent  who  did,  but, 
after  all,  this  shows  only  the  adaptability  that  saved  them  from 
destruction.  In  a  world  without  fuel  and  with  plenty  of  seal  oil, 
they  would  never  have  survived  if  they  had  not  invented  a  way  to 
secure  heat  from  the  oil.  The  Amerind  of  the  forested  regions 
had  no  need  for  a  lamp.  The  possession  of  the  lamp,  therefore, 
is  no  indication  of  higher  mental  powers,  but  of  a  more  severe  en 
vironment.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  limited  amount  of  their 
carving  an  indication  on  their  part  of  inferior  mental  endowment. 
It  is,  again,  the  result  of  circumstances,  as  pointed  out  above.  In 
a  region  without  suitable  material  or  climate  for  extensive  carv- 
1  Ninth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.  2 Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


170  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


ing,  they  did  not  carve,  that  is  all.  Place  them  for  a  few  genera 
tions  in  the  region  of  the  Haidas,  and  they  would  begin  to  develop 
many  different  habits  and  traits. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast,  few  specimens  of  sculpture  have,  thus 
far,  been  found,  nor  has  any  carving  of  consequence  been  dis 
closed.  In  New  Jersey  some  rude  heads  in  stone  have  come  to 

light,  but  such 
finds  are  rare.  As 
the  bounds  of  the 
Mississippi  valley 
are  entered,  how 
ever,  the  art  re 
in  a  i  n  s  immedi 
ately  increase  in 
importance,  but 
not  to  the  exag 
gerated  extent 
claimed  by  many 
writers.  The  carv 
ings  and  sculp 
tures  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  valley  are, 
like  all  Amerind 
products  in  this 
line,  crude,  and 
there  is  no  warrant 
for  the  claims  that 
the  occupants  of 
the  region  were 
not  "  Indians,"  so 
far  as  these  re 
mains  testify.  The 
most  striking  work  found  up  to  the  present  is  that  of  the  head- 
shaped  vases  from  Pecan  Point,  Arkansas,  but  as  I  have  pointed 
out  before, '  these  vases  were  not  modelled  free-hand,  but  were  the 
result  of  a  process,  are  in  fact  death-masks,  built  into  the  vases. 
While  it  was  a  clever  thing  to  accomplish  these  in  that  way,  yet  it 
is  a  mechanical  method,  and  has  little  to  do  with  artistic  skill. 
Thomas  Wilson  says  of  these  vases  that  they  ' '  divide  themselves 
J  Chap.  V.,  and  American  Anthropologist,  February,  1897. 


U.  s.  Bu.  Eth. 

.  SPECIMEN    OF    MOUNDBUILDER    SCULPTURAL    SKILL 

WITH    HUMAN    FIGURE 
Height  of  jar,  \o\  in.  ;  width  of  shoulders^  8  in. 


Carving,    Modelling,   Sculpture 


171 


into  two  distinct  groups.  The  specimens  forming  the  first  group 
are  death-masks,  as  becomes  more  and  more  evident  the  more  the 
objects  are  studied  ;  the  other  group,  while  of  the  same  general 
form  as  the  first,  the  human  head  being  represented,  has  the  face 
and  features  wrought  upon  it  free-hand,  as  in  sculpturing,  without 
the  aid  of  mould  or  cast."  1  It  may  be  added  that  the  second  group 
is  far  inferior  to  the  first,  and  is  quite  in  line  with  the  rest  of  the 
remains  of  this  district. 

The  tobacco  pipes  of  the  region  were  lauded  as  perfect  examples 
of  the  sculptor's  art,  but  if  one  gives  them 
critical  examination,  it  is  at  once  plain  that 
they  are  not  out  of  the  Amerind  line,  and, 
what  is  more,  that  as  specimens  of  sculpture 
they  are  pretty  bad,  because  it  is  difficult  to 

decide  just 
what  they 
represent. 
Even  the 
Eskimo 
give  their 
work  character 
enough  to  dis 
tinguish  it,  yet  the  Moundbuilder  did  much  of  his  carving  so 
poorly  that  there  has  been  frequent  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  what 
it  was  intended  to  depict.  Henshaw  took  up  the  matter,  and  has 
shown  that  the  degree  of  excellence  of  representation  in  the 
carving  of  the  Moundbuilder  pipes,  so  long  extolled,  has  been 
overrated. 

The  tobacco  pipe,  bearing,  as  it  did,  a  peculiar  relation  to  the 
sacred  paraphernalia  and  ceremonies  of  the  Amerinds,  received 
much  attention  from  them  and  was  frequently  elaborate,  from  the 
Amerind  standpoint,  in  its  details.  The  earliest  form  of  pipe  was 
a  straight  tube  seen  in  Mexican  carvings  and  also  found  in  various 
parts  of  North  America.  In  the  Eastern  United  States  one  is 
found  which  is  designated  as  the  "  Monitor."  I  suppose  this 
name  came  from  a  resemblance  to  the  famous  first  turret  man-of- 
war,  the  United  States  ship  Monitor.  The  base  of  these  pipes  was 
slightly  curved  downwards,  the  bowl  rising  from  about  the  centre 
of  the  platform,  on  the  convex  side.  Many  of  these  show  marks 

1  Prehistoric  Art,  p.  477. 


U.S.  Bu.  Eth. 

STONE    PIPE    FROM    NORTH    CAROLINA    MOUND 


i  72  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  steel  tools.1  Squier  and  Davis,  who  published  their  work  in 
1848,  discerned  wonderful  artistic  skill  in  the  Moundbuilder  pipes, 
and  they  discovered  an  intimate  acquaintance  between  the  Mound- 
builder  artists  and  far-off  tropical  birds  and  animals,  probably  be 
cause  in  those  days  it  was  thought  that  an  "Indian  "  was  absolutely 
incapable  of  producing  anything.  Especially  was  great  stress  laid 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TOUCAN   OF   SQUIER   AND   DAVIS,  POSSIBLY   MEANT   FOR   A  YOUNG  EAGLE 

Only  two  of  the  u elephant"  pipes  have  been   found  and  both  by  the  same  person.     There  is  a 

doubt  as  to  their  genuineness.     Even  if  genuine  they  are  far  from  depicting  the  mastodon 

by  Squier  and  Davis  upon  certain  pipes  said  to  delineate  the  mana 
tee.  Theories  of  origin  and  migration  were  founded  on  this  sup 
posed  knowledge,  and  other  writers  accepting  these  deductions 
founded  yet  other  theories  upon  them  ;  and  they  were  all  wrong. 
'Joseph  D.  McGuire,  "American  Aboriginal  Pipes,"  Rep.  Nat.  Mus., 
1897,  p.  468. 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 


173 


The  trouble  seems  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  the  archaeologists  of  some 
years  ago  not  only  were  not  naturalists,  but  they  were  not  accurate 
and  drew  their  conclusions  from  insufficient  data.     The  attitude 
of  the  archaeologist  of  to-day  is  exceedingly  cautious,  and  before 
pronouncing  a  pipe  carving  a  manatee,  or  any  other  animal,  he 
would  surely  institute  cautious  and  careful  comparisons.     This 
Messrs.  Squierand 
Davis  seem  not  to 
have  done,  nor  did 
any   of    their    fol 
lowers  or  success 
ors,  being  content, 
as  Henshaw  points 
out,     to     accept 
Squier  and  Davis' s 
statement  as  abso 
lute.    Henshaw  de- 
m  o  1  i  s  h  e  s     their 
claims    and   shows 
that  no  manatee  is 
represented      and 
that    all    the    pipe 
carvings  are  of 
birds  and   animals 
that    had   their 
range  in  the  coun 
try  of  the  Mound- 
builders  or  not  far 
from     its    borders. 
What  they  called  a  toucan   he   identifies   as  a   crow,  or  raven, 
and   in   this  decision   several  other    ornithologists  fully    agree. 
The  nasal  features  are  plainly  shown,  and  the  ' '  general  contour 
of  the  bill  is  truly  corvine."      See  figure  page  161.       Thus  is  this 
supposed  tropical  acquaintance  easily  disposed  of  and  the  crow, 
certainly  not  a  rare  bird  in  that  locality,  substituted.     A  turkey 
buzzard  is  shown  to  be  a  hawk,  and  other  foreign  types  claimed  by 
Squier  and  Davis  are  disproved  with  ease.  Out  of  forty-five  carvings 
on  pipes  figured  by  them  only  five, by  Henshaw' s  tests,  are  correctly 
named.     Some  carvings,  which  they  were  unable  to  identify,  Hen 
shaw  places  without  any  effort.     As  for  the  so-called  manatees,  he 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


TRIPOD    VASE,   CHIRIQUI.       j£.       LEGS   MODELLED 
TO    IMITATE    FI   H 


174  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

believes  they  were  intended  for  otter.  The  manatee  is  an  earless 
animal  with  many  peculiar  features  which  do  not  appear  in  the 
Moundbuilder  carvings,  while  ears  do  appear.  This  is  what  I 
mean  by  not  giving  "character"  to  carvings.  It  is  a  matter, 
largely,  of  perception.  The  Eskimo  appears  to  have  this  per 
ception  developed  to  a  considerable  degree,  and  when  he  deline 
ates  an  animal  he  knows  he  marks  strongly  its  peculiar  features, 
whatever  else  he  may  do.  The  element  of  imagination  also  comes 
in,  for  Amerinds  often  produce  drawings  or  carvings  of  animals 
they  think  they  have  seen,  or  as  they  appeared  to  them  in  a  sudden 
and  fleeting  glimpse,  or  vision. 

It  was  a  lack  of  ability  to  reproduce  accurately  the  lines  and 
character  of  any  object  which  caused  some  of  the  Moundbuilder 
pipes  intended  to  represent  the  common  otter  to  look  like  some 
thing  else.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  Moundbuilder  pipe  carv 
ings,  about  which  so  much  that  is  unwarranted  has  been  written, 
are  not  superior  to  the  carvings  of  the  Haidas,  or  other  stocks, 
and  indeed,  if  anything,  are  not  equal  to  them.  They  certainly 
do  not  compare  for  a  moment  with  most  of  the  work  of  the  Mexi 
can  tribes.  A  further  important  conclusion  of  Henshaw's  is  that 
' '  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  masks  and  sculptures 
of  human  faces  are  more  correct  likenesses  than  are  the  animal 
carvings,"  '  which  is  exactly  in  accord  with  my  own  opinion,  not 
only  as  concerns  the  work  of  the  Moundbuilders,  but  of  every 
other  Amerind  tribe.  They  were  not  sculptors  of  a  kind  that 
could  reproduce  a  likeness  to  an  individual.  Their  work  was 
always  general ;  they  seldom  drew  or  painted  from  the  object,  as  an 
artist  or  sculptor  of  our  race  does,  but  they  accomplished  their  re 
sult  by  memory,  imagination,  and  "  rule  of  thumb."  The  sur 
prise  of  the  Europeans  at  finding  anything  at  all  in  the  art  line, 
coupled  with  a  wide  ignorance  on  art  matters,  has  awarded  all 
the  Amerind  carvings  and  sculptures,  as  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  Moundbuilder  case,  a  false  degree  of  excellence.  The  Ame 
rinds  of  the  Mississippi  valley  probably  also  carved  wood,  but 
their  work  in  this  material  has,  of  course,  long  ago  decayed. 
They  worked  other  things,  like  shell,  and  some  of  the  shell  carv 
ings  are  strikingly  like  Aztec  drawings.  In  this  shellwork  there 
are  a  great  many  discs  and  gorgets,  engraved  with  figures  of 
spiders,  rattlesnakes,  birds,  geometrical  designs,  and  representa- 
1  H.  W.  Henshaw,  "Animal  Carvings,"  Second  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  166. 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture  1 75 

tions  of  the  human  figure.  There  are  also  rude  shell  masks  of  the 
human  face,  but  these  are  primitive  in  the  extreme.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  this  region  was  occupied  for  long  ages,  and  by 
many  different  tribes,  so  that  the  work  found  is  probably  from 
different  sources,  though  all  Amerind.  A  class  of  singularly  shaped 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


SHELL    GORGET,    MISSOURI.       ACTUAL   SIZE 


stones  is  found  in  the  Mississippi  valley  and  northward,  mainly 
north  of  the  Ohio,  to  which  the  name  "  bird-stones  "  has  been  ap 
plied  because  of  their  resemblance  to  avian  forms.  No  satisfac 
tory  explanation  of  their  use  has  been  advanced.1 

1  Warren  K0  Moore,  The  Bird-Slone  Ceremonial  (pamphlet). 


176  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

A  number  of  stone  statues  of  the  human  figure  have  been  un 
earthed  from  Georgia  to  Tennessee,  varying  in  height  from  three 
or  four  inches  to  something  over  twenty.  They  are  all  of  the 
crudest  description,  and  so  far  as  any  resemblance  to  the  type  of 
man  who  made  them  is  concerned  are  absolutely  valueless.  They 
are  undoubtedly  human  forms,  that  is  all  ;  not  another  character 
istic,  except  sex,  indicated  by  breasts, 
is  presented.  They  are  mostly  in  a  squat 
ting  posture  and  on  one  or  two  there 
seems  to  be  a  suggestion  of  the  hair 
dressed  behind.  Effigy  bottles  of  earth 
enware  from  Tennessee  are  similarly 
crude  and  primitive.  There  is  little, 
therefore,  in  the  whole  Mississippi  valley 
or  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  in  the  line  of 
carving  or  sculpture,  that  could  not 
have  been  executed  by  Amerinds  that 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

BIRD-SHAPED    EARTHEN   BOWL,    ARKANSAS. 

have  been  known  to  our  race,  many  of  them  living  in  the  same 
localities  where  the  art  remains  have  been  found.  The  superla 
tive  rank  awarded  Moundbuilder  art  is  unwarranted. 

Directing  our  attention  now  to  still-  another  region,  we  find  in 
the  South-west  a  vast  deal  that  is  absorbingly  interesting.  For 
tunately  the  people  were,  many  of  them,  still  there  when  the  first 
Spaniards  came  into  the  country  in  1540,  so  that  we  have  data  to 
prevent  the  attributing  the  works  found  there  to  some  mysterious 
race.  It  has  been  attempted  in  the  case  of  the  "  Cliff-dwellers," 
but  the  investigations  of  competent  ethnologists  have  effectually 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 


177 


settled  that  matter,  and  checked  the  romantic  tendency  except  in 
the  case  of  a  few  who  will  not  learn.  The  ethnographic  condition 
of  the  South-west  since  we  have  known  it  probably  represents  also 
what  prevailed  in  the  Mississippi  region,  that  is,  a  number  of 
different  stocks  existing  in  different  stages  of  culture,  distributed  in 
patches,  not  uniformly. 


\ 


U.S.Bu.Eth. 


SHELL    MASK,    VIRGINIA. 


All  of  them  pitched  their  camps  or  built  their  houses  as  expe 
diency  dictated,  and  when  cause  arose  to  render  them  dissatisfied 
with  their  site,  whether  cliff-house,  village,  or  camp,  they  moved 
to  a  more  desirable  place,  leaving  behind  what  they  could  not 
easily  carry,  as  well  as  their  houses.  Thus  in  the  course  of  a  long 
time  the  area  presented  the  appearance  from  the  numerous  remains 


178  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  having  a  larger  population  than  was  really  the  case  ;  though  I 
may  add  that  I  believe  the  population  was  at  one  time  somewhat 
greater  than  has  usually  been  admitted  by  the  best  ethnologists. 
These  various  stocks  carried  on  their  daily  avocations,  and  when 
the  results  were  in  some  indestructible  material,  many  of  them  were 
preserved  to  us,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  the  productions 
of  the  modern  tribes,  give  an  excellent  and  correct  impression  of 
the  life  and  occupations  of  the  inhabitants  extending  far  back  into 
the  past. 


Terra  cotta  Wood  Terra  cotta 

MOKI    SCULPTURAL    SKILL   WITH    THE    HUMAN    FIGURE 

The  Shoshonean  is  one  of  the  stocks  still  extant  in  that  and 
more  northerly  regions,  and  spreads  far  south  to  the  lakes  of 
Mexico.  It  exists  to-day  in  several  stages,  the  Mexican  or  Na- 
huatl,  the  Moki  or  Hopi,  and  the  numerous  bands  of  Utes. l  Other 
stocks  probably  had  equal  variation  in  culture  within  their  ranks, 
this  variation  being  sometimes  due  to  the  absorption,  as  in  the 

1  The  Pai  Utes  make  rude  clay  and  wood  dolls,  but  nothing  larger,  and 
no  pottery. 


Carving,  Modelling,   Sculpture 


179 


case  of  the  Navajos,  of  a  more  cultured  tribe.  Many  of  these 
tribes  did  no  carving  whatever,  and  the  region  of  our  South-west  is 
poor  in  this  sort  of  remains.  The  Pueblos,  while 
possessing  other  artistic  talents  of  a  high  order, 
do  not  seem  to  have  done  much  in  the  line  of 
carving.  They  execute  the  ordinary  fetiches 
with  little  or  no  shape,  and  they  also  produce  a 
kind  of  small  doll  for  the  children  and  some  that 
are  used  in  ceremonies,  figure  page  178,  but  all 
these,  and  all  the  masks  in  ceremonies,  are  fearful 
things  to  look  upon,  bearing  little  or  no  resem 
blance  to  anything  human ;  shapeless,  botched  up 
.  masses  of  hideousness,  usually  not  carved  or  mod- 

THE  ALOSAKA  (MOKI)  , 

.,          •     v   A  M    elled,  but  built  up  out  of  various  stuffs.     Some 

After  drawing  by  A.  M.  r 

Stephen  of  them  model  effigies  in  earthenware,  but  these 

attempts  do  not  amount  to  much.  I  have  never 
seen  any  wood  carving,  from  this  region,  worth  mentioning.  A. 
M.  Stephen  made  a  sketch  of  two  figures  in  wood  with  small  knots 
or  horns  called  the  Alosaka,  which  I  copied,  but  they  are  primi 
tive  to  the  last  degree. 
These  figures  were  about 
four  feet  high,  and  were 
of  cottonwood,  apparently 
very  old.  Figures  above. 
They  were  discovered  by 
accident  in  a  cave  near 
the  ruins  of  Awatuwi  and 
removed.  When  the  loss 
was  learned  by  the  Moki 
they  requested  the  return 
of  the  images,  which  was 
granted,  and  they  have 
not  been  seen  since,  nor 
does  anyone  outside  of  the 
custodians,  or  at  least  no 
white  man,  know  where 
they  are.  Around  the 
Moki  towns  I  saw  not  a 
single  attempt  at  rock  carving,  nor  do  I  remember  in  exten 
sive  journeys  over  the  South-western  region  ever  seeing  any 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth.  Side 

SCULPTURAL   ART   OF    CHIRIQUI 
Fragmentary  figure  in  grey  basaltic  rock. 


180  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

relief  carving  whatever.  Rock  scratchings,  erroneously  termed 
"  etchings"  by  many  writers  on  these  subjects,  I  have  seen  in 
great  abundance,  but  not  an  attempt  at  sculpture  worth  noticing. 
There  may,  however,  in  some  of  the  villages,  be  carvings 
nevertheless.  Governor  Prince  found  at  a  ruin  near  Cochiti  a 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth 


SHELL    GORGET,    TENNESSEE.       ^ 

Apparently  a  human  figure,  with  face  in  profile  to  the  left  of  the  circle  near  the  top.     The  nose  is 
cut  away  by  a  perforation 

number  of  rudely  formed  stone  figures  of  human  shape.  Nearby 
there  are  two  panthers  carved  life  size  in  the  tufa  which  forms 
the  surface  rock  of  the  locality.  They  "  lie  side  by  side,"  says 
Bandelier,  "  representing  the  animals  as  crouching  with  tails  ex 
tended,  and  their  heads  pointing  to  the  east."  l  Their  length  is 
six  feet,  one  third  of  this  being  tail.  The  height  is  two  feet  and 
1  A.  F.  Bandelier,  Final  Report,  p.  152. 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture  181 

the  breadth  across  the  shoulders  fourteen  inches,  and  across  the 
rump  seventeen  inches.  They  are  about  twenty-two  inches  apart. 
Around  them  is  an  irregular  pentagonal  enclosure,  ' '  made  of  large 
blocks,  flags,  and  slabs  of  volcanic  rock,  some  of  which  are  set  in 
the  ground  like  posts,  while  the  majority  are  piled  on  each  other 
so  as  to  connect  the  upright  pillars.  .  .  .  When  I  last  saw 
the  monument  it  looked  like  a  diminutive  and  dilapidated  Stone- 
henge."  l  Another  pair  of  similar  panthers  occurs  at  not  a  great 
distance  off  at  a  place  now  called  the  Potrero  de  los  Idolos.  The 
size  is  about  the  same  as  the  others.  "  One  of  them  is  completely 
destroyed  by  treasure  hunters,  who  loosened  both  from  the  rock 
by  a  blast  of  powder,  and  then  heaved  the  ponderous  blocks  out 
by  means  of  crowbars.  After  breaking  one  of  the  figures  to  pieces 
they  satisfied  themselves  that  nothing  was  buried  underneath. 
.  .  .  The  imperfections  of  the  sculpture  are  very  apparent  ; 
were  it  not  for  the  statements  of  the  Indians,  who  positively  assert 
that  the  intention  of  the  makers  was  to  represent  a  puma,  it  would 
be  considered  to  be  a  gigantic  lizard."  3 

The  metates  or  mealing  stones,  abundant  in  modern  and  ancient 
villages,  and  which  in  the  Far  South  are  elaborately  carved  often 
times,  are,  in  the  South-west,  so  far  as  I  have  observed  in  the  field 
and  in  reports  of  investigators,  never  decorated  in  the  faintest  de 
gree.  Articles,  also,  of  various  kinds  that  among  the  Haidas  or 
Tlinkits  would  be  covered  with  carving,  have  here  not  a  vestige  of 
it.  Nor  is  there  any  carving  about  the  house  timbers  or  the 
stones  that  enter  into  the  wall  construction,  places  where  the 
Aztecs,  and  especially  the  Mayas,  lavished  their  skill.  The  Mokis 
make  little  clay  images  which  they  fire  for  the  children,  but  they 
are  without  merit.  Nor  do  the  Navajo,  the  Pima,  the  Apache, 
Yuma,  or  any  of  the  other  stocks  attempt  anything  in  the  direc 
tion  of  carving,  so  that  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  the  South-west 
has  not  produced  any  carving  worthy  of  note,  either  in  modern  or 
ancient  times.  The  ruins  so  far  as  known  are  as  barren  of  carved 
articles  as  the  modern  occupied  houses. 

Proceeding  southward,  however,  when  we  approach  the  vicinity 
of  the  City  of  Mexico,  examples  of  carving  appear,  and  it  is 
quickly  evident  that  the  Aztecs  gave  great  attention  to  this  form 
of  art.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  specimens  is  the  so-called 
Calendar  Stone  dug  up  under  the  present  city,  and  now  in  the 

1  A.  F.  Bandelier,  Final  Report,  p.  153.  2  Ibid,  p.  161. 


1 82  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

Mexican  National  Museum.  It  has  been  called  a  sacrificial  stone, 
but  Bandelier  thinks  it  may  have  served  rather  as  the  base  for  an 
other  stone,  holding  the  rope  of  a  captive  doomed  to  the  "  gladi 
atorial  "  sacrifice.  For  my  part  I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  it  is 
an  astronomical  affair.  The  date  carved  on  the  top  is  the  i3th 


THE   AZTEC    "CALENDAR"    STONE 
From  Bandelier's  Arch&ological  Tour^  published  by  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America 

Acatl  or  A.D.  1479  of  our  time,  according  to  the  accepted  calcula 
tions.  In  the  centre  is  a  head,  supposed  to  represent  the  sun, 
and  around  it  are  twenty  figures,  standing  for  the  twenty  days  of 
the  Mexican  month.  Then  come  eight  divisions  by  what  appear 
to  be  arrow-heads,  four  being  extended  farther  toward  the  centre 
than  the  others  and  also  curled  up  at  the  ends  or  flukes,  and  one 
of  these  four  ending  in  an  elaborate  sort  of  bow-knot  ornament 
which  covers  a  wide  space  at  what  is  now  the  lower  edge  as  it 
stands.  Each  of  the  eight  divisions  is  again  divided  by  a  kind  of 
crown  which  is  smaller  than  the  smaller  arrow-heads,  and  then 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 


183 


there  is  a  still  further  subdivision  made  by  a  dot,  on  a  line  with 
the  base  of  the  crown.     This  gives  thirty-two  points,  or  exactly 
the  number  of  points  on  our  mariner's  compass  card,  so  that  this 
carving  can  be  "  boxed  "  as  any  compass  card  can  be.     The  N., 
E.,  and  W.,  are  more  prominent  than  any  other  points  but  the 
S.,  which  has  the  decoration  referred  to.     Then  come  the  N.E., 
S.E.,    S.W.,    and    N.W.,      r ., 
with    each    set    of   inter 
mediate   points  diminish 
ing    in    importance.1      It 
looks   as    if   our    ancient 
Aztecs  had  found  a  mari 
ner's    compass    washed 
ashore  and  perpetuated  it 
by   thus  carving   it   with 
mythological  significance.2 
Stranger  things  than  this 
have    occurred    among 
Amerinds.     But  I  prefer 
to  believe  that  the  Aztec  ... 
astronomer    worked    out 
the  points  of  the  compass 
for  himself,  for  these  direc 
tions  exist   of   course    in 

every  land  independent  of     ^s^^aiiii»iiiiiii  mm^amm#smwmKL  t 
the  compass,  and  the  mo-  AZTEC  SCULPTURE,  THE  INDIO  TRISTE 

rnprit    flip     Amerind    beP"a.n          From  Bandelier's  A rchceological  Tour,  published  by 

the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America 

to  work  in  astronomy  he 

was  forced  to  recognise  the  thirty-two  natural  directions  that  were 
open  to  him.  No  doubt  the  Mayan  and  Mexican  observatories  were 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  Shah  Jahan  at  Jeypore  in  India, 
where  circular  stones  of  different  sizes  formed  a  part  of  the  observ 
ing  apparatus.  The  Mayan  and  Mexican  astronomical  knowledge 
was  probably  equal  to  any  extant  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

1  A  painted  design,  similar  to  that  of  the  "  Calendar  Stone,"  was  found 
on   one  of  the   inside  walls  at  Mitla.      See   pi.  xxv.,   Fig.  I,  Bandelier's 
Archaeological  Tour. 

2  A  compass  card  has  five  concentric  circles,  and  the  Calendar  Stone 
appears  to  have  the  same  number.     The  compass  was  known  in  Europe  in 
the  twelfth  century,  in  China  earlier. 


184  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Another  type  of  Mexican  carving  is  seen  in  the  statue  of  Teo- 
yaomiqui,  the  god  of  war  and  death,  of  which  the  two  faces  are 
different.  Bandelier  believes  this  to  be  a  statue  of  the  war-god 
Huitzilopochtli. 

Another  remarkable  statue  given  mention  by  Bandelier  is  the 
"  Indio  Triste."  This  is  a  squatting  figure  of  an  Amerind  exe 
cuted  with  more  simplicity  than  is  usual  with  Amerind  work  in 
this  region.  Bandelier  considers  it  a  torch-bearer,  a  supposition 
borne  out  by  evidence  he  advances,  and  also  by  the  arrangement 
of  the  hands  and  arms,  which  are  brought  out  forward  of  the 
chest  as  if  clasping  something  in  the  empty  space  between  the 
fingers.  This  statue  is  forty  inches  high  and  two  feet  wide.  A 
comparatively  small  number  of  Aztec  sculptures  have  been  found. 
Almost  all  were  destroyed  or  buried  by  the  zeal  of  the  early  priests. 
Under  the  City  of  Mexico  and  in  other  places  there  are  probably 
many  lying  intact,  and  some  day  they  may  come  to  the  light. 
"  The  art  of  sculpture  in  aboriginal  Mexico,"  says  Bandelier, 
"  while  considerably  above  that  of  the  Northern  Village-Indians, 
is  still  not  superior  to  the  remarkable  carvings  on  ivory  and  wood 
of  the  tribes  of  the  North-west  Coast  and  often  bears  a  marked 
resemblance  to  them. ' '  l 

Proceeding  on  southward,  the  next  great  group  of  carvings  is 
that  ascribed  to  the  Mayas,  and  extending,  in  a  general  way,  from 
the  Isthmus  of  Tehuan tepee  to  the  borders  of  Honduras  and  some 
what  beyond.  The  people  formerly  occupying  this  area  were 
extremely  active  in  the  line  of  carving,  and  there  are  preserved  to 
us  tablets,  figures  in  bass-relief,  statues,  monoliths,  and  other 
stone-  and  woodwork  that,  taken  together,  easily  bring  this  people 
in  the  very  front  place  among  Amerind  artists.  Their  buildings 
were  most  elaborately  ornamented  with  carving  in  stone,  or  wood, 
and  with  modelling  in  stucco,  and  there  were  many  tablets  bear 
ing  carved  inscriptions.  One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  tablets 
adorned  a  beautiful  building  called  in  modern  times  "  The  Temple 
of  the  Cross."  2  It  stands  at  Palenque.  The  tablet  was  affixed 

1  A.  F.  Bandelier,  Report  of  an  Archceological  Tour  in  Mexico,  p.  78. 

2  Two  structures  at  Palenque  are  so  called  on  account  of  the  tablets  in 
them  bearing  emblems   that   resemble   a   cross.      In   that   designated  by 
Stephen    as  No.  2,  by  Charnay  later  as  No.  I,  and  by  H.  H.  Bancroft  as 
No.  4,  the  cross  form  is  the  more  pronounced,  and  it  is  the  one  usually 
referred  to  by  the  above  title. 


1 86 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


to  the  rear  wall  of  an  inner  chamber,  termed  by  Europeans  the 
"  Ad  oratorio,"  and  was  in  three  sections,  the  total  dimensions  of 
which  were  ten  feet  eight  inches  wide,  by  six  feet  four  inches 
high.  One  section  of  this  tablet  remained  in  place  at  the  time  of 
Charnay's  last  visit,  one  was  in  L,as  Play  as,  and  the  other,  the 
third,  is  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  At  each  extreme  end  of 
the  whole  composition  was  a  mass  of  the  calculiform  writing;  next 


Peabody  Museum 


"ALTAR"  IN  FRONT  OF  STELA  D,  COPAN 


came  two  figures  separated  by  a  peculiar  design  in  the  centre, 
which  somewhat  resembles  a  cross,  and  it  was  this  design  that 
gave  the  name  to  the  tablet.  While  the  execution  is  remarkable 
it  is  nevertheless  primitive,  and  similar  to  other  Amerind  art  in 
quality  and  conception.  It  is  a  high  development  of  Amerindian 
sculptural  ideas.  Another  similar  tablet  exists  in  the  so-called 
"  Temple  of  the  Sun."  A  cast  of  this  was  made  by  Charnay  and 
a  photograph  from  this  cast  is  given  in  figure  on  page  185.' 

At  Copan  twenty-three  stelae,  or  monolithic  monuments,  elab 
orately  carved  with  human  figures  and  hieroglyphs,  have  been 
found.     Each  had  in  front  a  sculptured  block  designated  as  an 
1  For  the  exterior  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  see  Frontispiece. 


STELA   NO.    6,    COPAN 


BACK    OF    STELA    NO.  6 


I87 


-icaM 


1 88  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

altar.  Their  average  height  is  twelve  feet,  and  their  breadth  and 
their  thickness  each  about  three  feet.  Stelae  and  so-called  idols 
have  been  exhumed  around  Lake  Nicaragua,  but  all  remains 
grow  less  important  towards  the  south  except  in  Chiriqui,  as  well 
as  towards  the  north.  Indeed,  here  in  Yucatan  seems  to  have 
sprung  the  living  fountain  that  watered  all  the  desolation  of  the 
Western  world. 

The  stelae  at  Copan  are  some  of  the  most  artistic  and  altogether 
remarkable  sculptures  found  on  the  continent.  They  are  highly 
decorative,  and  the  execution  of  the  intricate  designs  with  the 
poor  stone  tools  at  their  command  is  extraordinary.  But  all  the 
productions  of  the  Mayas  pass  easily  beyond  those  of  any  other 
stock  on  this  continent.  Some  of  the  conventionalised  animal 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PUMA-SHAPED    STOOL    OF    GREY    ANDESITE,    CHIRIQUI.       % 

heads  used  as  gargoyles  are  exceedingly  well  done  and  so  also  are 
several  works  called  "singing-girls"  (see  figures  pages  19  and 
79).  There  are  no  geometric  patterns  at  Copan,  and  the  de 
signs  and  execution  are  of  a  high  order,  yet  at  the  same  time 
thoroughly  Amerindian.  The  rattlesnake  enters  into  many  of 
the  designs  and  is  represented  by  itself  frequently.  It  was 
an  animal  of  great  importance  to  all  Amerinds  from  the  thirty- 
eighth  parallel  down.  Charnay  gives  an  illustration  of  what 
he  calls  votive  stones,  that  are  apparently  the  representation 
of  the  rattle  of  the  revered  reptile.  The  segments  are  clearly 
indicated  and  altogether  the  design  seems  to  me  unmistak- 


Carving,   Modelling,  Sculpture 


189 


able.     The   region   of   the   South-west  and   Mexico  is  also  the 
richest  in  species  of  any  part  of  America,  no  less  than  ' (  eight  out 


Peabody  Museum 

HEAD    SCULPTURED    IN    STONE,   CHULTUNES    OF    LABNA,   YUCATAN 


of  a  total  of  seventeen  species  occurring  at  or  near  the  boundary 
between    the  United   States   and   the   Mexican    Republic."      In 


1 90  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

southern  Arizona  seven  different  species  are  found.  "  Their  cen 
tre  of  distribution  appears  to  be  the  tableland  of  Mexico  with  its 
extension  northward  into  the  south-western  United  States." 

One  of  the  "  Temples  of  the  Cross  "  at  Palenque  is  flanked  at 
the  entrance  by  two  well-constructed  figures,  one  on  either  side, 
supposed  to  represent  the  Mayan  war  and  rain  gods.2  These  fig 
ures  are  in  low  relief,  covered  with  the  customary  Amerind  trap 
pings  and  head-dresses  of  this  region.  On  each  tablet  there  are 
some  calculiform  characters.  Many  of  the  ruined  buildings  still 
exhibit  a  wealth  of  ornamentation  either  carved  in  stone,  modelled 
in  stucco,  or  constructed  out  of  rubble  and  stucco.  Some  of  the 
carvings,  notably  certain  heads  at  Uxmal,  have  formed  the  basis 
for  much  discussion.  The  latter  were  supposed  by  Waldeck  to  be 
representations  of  elephants'  trunks,  but  there  is  no  foundation  for 
this  supposition.  They  more  likely  represent  ceremonial  masks 
with  long  noses.  Something  similar,  though  lacking  the  curve, 
is  seen  in  some  of  the  remarkable  funeral  urns  found  in  the 
Zapotecan  tombs. 

The  statue  of  Chac-Mool,  found  at  Chichen  Itza  by  Le  Plon- 
geon,  is  an  example  of  what  was  accomplished  when  the  figure 
was  attempted  without  any  of  the  accessories  of  masks,  draperies, 
etc.3  It  is  a  large  reclining  figure,  crude  and  primitive.  Some 
of  the  work  at  other  places  is  more  symmetrical,  as,  for  instance, 
the  Lacandon  idol  described  by  Charnay.  "  This  idol  is  very 
beautiful  and  unique  of  its  kind,  for  nothing  like  it  has  been 
found  either  in  Tabasco  or  Yucatan.  It  represents  a  figure  sitting 
cross-legged,  the  hands  resting  on  the  knees  .  .  .  the  face 
now  mutilated  is  crowned  by  an  enormous  head-dress  of  a  peculiar 
style,  presenting  a  fantastic  head  with  a  diadem  and  medallions, 
topped  by  huge  feathers,  like  those  on  the  columns  at  Tula  and 
Chichen-Itza."  4  This  idol  was  found  at  Menche,  where  there  is 
a  lot  of  excellent  work  in  the  line  of  carving,  some  of  the  wooden 
lintels  being  particularly  interesting.  It  is  impossible  in  a  brief 

1  L,eonhard  Stejneger,  "  Poisonous  Suakes  of  North  America,"  Rep.  U.  S. 
Museitm^  1893,  p.  421. 

2  Edward  S.  Holden,  "Studies  in  Central  American  Picture-Writing," 
First  Ami.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  229. 

3  Charnay  found  at  Palenque  that  some  of  the  figures  were  modelled 
first  nude  and  draperies  applied  afterwards,  the  latter  separating  from  the 
figure  itself. 

4  Desire  Charnay,  Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World. 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 


191 


chapter  to  convey  more  than  a  slight  impression  of  all  this  elabo 
rate  carving.  The  reader  who  desires  to  obtain  a  full  comprehen 
sion  of  the  work  should  study  Maudsley's  text  and  illustrations  in 
the  Biologia  Centrali  Americana. 

Where  modelling  was  accomplished  by  the  building-up  process 
with  stones  and  mortar  the  results  were  sometimes  gigantic. 
Stephens  found  an  enormous  head  made  in  this  way  at  Izamal  at 
the  base  of  the  palace  of  Hunpictok.  He  described  it  as  being 
seven  feet  eight  inches  high.  "  The  features,"  he  says,  "  were 
first  rudely  formed  by  small  rough  stones,  fixed  in  the  side  of  the 
mound  by  means  of  mortar,  and 
afterwards  perfected  with  stucco  so 
hard  that  it  has  resisted  the  action 
of  air  and  water  for  centuries." 
The  stone  composing  the  chin 
alone  measures  one  foot  and  six 
inches.  The  face  had  an  ex 
tremely  large  mustache.  This  sin 
gular  specimen  of  the  Yucatan 
Amerinds'  modelling  skill  has,  since 
the  visit  of  Stephens,  completely 
disappeared.  At  the  same  place  is 
another,  however,  still  intact. 

This  one  is  thirteen  feet  high 
and  is  constructed  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  the  one  that  is  gone. 

Everywhere  throughout  Yuca 
tan  and  the  contiguous  region  the 
architecture  is  overloaded  with  orna 
mentation  which  many  large  volumes  would  barely  be  sufficient 
to  describe.  In  Nicaragua,  as  well  as  in  Honduras,  there  are 
found  many  carvings  and  sculptures,  statues,  stelae,  etc.,  but  they 
are  rarely  equal  to  those  found  in  the  Maya  ruins.  It  must  be 
said,  however,  that  the  examination  of  these  states  has  been  even 
less  thorough  than  that  of  the  Maya  region.  Tribes  of  Nahuatl 
stock  built  and  laboured  in  the  country  below  the  Maya,  and  in 
Costa  Rica  there  are  indications  that  the  remains  belong  to 
Amerinds  who  differed  from  both  Maya  and  Nahuatl. 

Some  of  the  supposed  metates  or  mealing  stones  found  in  Nic 
aragua   are   carved   with   legs    and   artistically  decorated.      One 


From  Stephens 
LARGE    BUILT-UP  HEAD  AT   IZAMAL 


192  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

figured  by  Squier  is  a  particularly  beautiful  specimen.  It  is  a  thin 
curved  slab,  concave  side  up,  and  has  four  legs.  One  end  pro 
jects  considerably  beyond  the  legs,  apparently  forming  the  head 
or  end  where  the  operator  sat  or  kneeled,  and  is  carved  in  a  wide 
band  all  the  way  across.  In  Chiriqui  there  are  similar  stones. 
Another  class  of  carved  remains  found  in  Chiriqui  is  apparently  a 
sort  of  metate,  but  it  differs  from  the  latter  in  being  round,  and 
Holmes  designates  them  as  stools,  for  want  of  a  more  exact  term. 1 
Some  wooden  stools  have  recently  been  obtained  in  Central  Amer 
ica  which  are  so  nearly  like  the  affair  described  by  Squier  as  a 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

STOOL   OF   GREY   BASALT,    CHIRIQUI.       j£ 

metate,  that  it  is  probable  the  latter  was  also  a  stool.  The  figure 
on  page  188  illustrates  this  class.  They  have  a  depressed  upper 
surface  and  are  carved  basalt  in  one  piece.  An  example  of  the 
round  is  given  above.  To  carve  an  object  like  this  from  solid 
basalt  must  have  been  a  work  of  great  duration.  It  is  in  their 
metal-  and  clay  work,  however,  that  the  Chiriqui  Amerinds  spe 
cially  excelled. 

All  works  are  dominated  by  the  customs  and  religious  ideas  of 
the  Amerind  race,  which  were  practically  the  same  everywhere  in 

1  "Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,"  Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu- 
Eth.,  p.  27. 


Carving,   Modelling,   Sculpture 


193 


different  stages  of  development.  Nowhere  do  we  find  a  touch  of 
idealism,  which  is  such  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  work  of  the 
European  race.  The  highest  of  it  marks  a  development  in  art 
below  the  Egyptian.  As  in  picture-writing  we  trace  the  growth 
of  letters,  so  by  the  aid  of  the  Amerind  sculpture  and  carving  we 
have  a  line  of  art  progress  from  infancy  to  the  present 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
COPPER   BELL    FROM    TENNESSEE 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PUEBLO    MEALING    STONES 


CHAPTER   VIII 


SHELTERS,    DWELLINGS,    AND   ARCHITECTURE 

THE  Amerind  of  North  America  has  generally  been  considered 
a  shiftless  and  indolent  being,  but  the  preceding  pages 
have  shown,  I  think,  that  this  estimate  is  an  error,  and  the 
following  chapters,  together  with  the  present  one,  will  even  more 
conclusively  demolish  that  false  assumption.  The  Amerind  to  be 
sure  was  not  a  white  man,  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
constant  holding  of  the  white  man's  nose  to  the  grindstone  is  not 
so  commendable  as  it  is  often  said  to  be,  for  it  is  not  choice  with 
him  but  necessity  born  of  his  ways  of  living  and  his  great  num 
bers.  Put  him  in  comparatively  small  numbers  on  a  vast  conti 
nent  rich  and  fertile  and  abounding  in  game,  and  it  is  not  likely 
that  he  would  shut  himself  up  in  a  factory  or  in  an  office,  where  he 
is  only  a  counting  machine.  The  Amerind  was  as  industrious  as 
his  environment  demanded.  Doubtless  had  his  development  not 
been  interfered  with  by  the  Discovery,  he  might  have  arrived  in 
time  at  the  same  condition  of  pressure  that  compels  us  to  labour 
incessantly. 

Almost  everywhere  on  this  continent  are  discovered  numerous 
evidences  of  Amerind  industry  and  toil.  From  the  brush  shelter 
of  the  Pai  Ute  of  Arizona  to  the  vast  stone  structures,  richly 
ornamented,  of  Yucatan,  is  an  immense  range,  and  within  these 
limits  are  to  be  found  about  every  kind  of  a  refuge  from  the 
elements  that  mankind  has  been  able  to  devise.  Mud,  boughs, 

194 


Shelters,   Dwellings,  and  Architecture          195 


caves,  wood,  adobe,  stone,  ice,  snow,  wicker-work,  wattling,  skins, 
ti  fact,  every  material  and  every  possible  hole,  existing  in  nature, 
have  been  utilised  by  the  Amerind,  and  the  materials  have  been 
given  every  variety  of  shape.     In  nothing,  perhaps,  has  his  strug 
gle  with  environment,  and  the  moulding  effects  of  the  environ 
ment,  been  more  clearly  exhibited  than  in  the  forms  and  materials 
of  the  dwellings  he  has  been  compelled  to  invent.      Other  evi 
dences  of   his  perseverance  and  exertion  are  discerned  in  great 
aqueducts,  in  long 
irrigating  canals,  in 
reservoirs,  in  huge 
earthworks,       and 
enormous    mounds 
that     sometimes 
rival  in  magnitude 
the  giant  construc 
tions  of  Egypt. 

The  Amerind 
dwellings  may  be 
divided  into  three 
general  classes, — 
temporary,  porta 
ble,  and  fixed.  The 
two  classes,  tem 
porary  and  fixed, 
only  are  usually 
recognised  by  eth 
nologists,  but  it 

has  seemed  to  me  proper  to  add  the  third  class,  because  of  the 
wide  use  of  the  portable  tipi,  and  other  forms  of  tent.  The  tem 
porary  houses,  those  abandoned  on  moving  camp  and  seldom 
occupied  again,  may  be  represented  by  the  Pai  Ute  wikiup  ;  the 
portable,  carried  from  place  to  place  for  years,  by  the  tipi  of  the 
Dakotas  ;  the  fixed,  or  those  which  are  occupied  either  for  an 
extended  period  or  periodically,  by  the  stone  or  adobe  house  of  the 
Pueblos,  or  the  wood  house  of  the  Iroquois,  or  the  wood  and  earth 
house  of  the  Eskimo. 1 

Outside  of  a  natural  cave  or  rock  shelter,  the  wikiup  of  the  Pai 

1  For  definitions  of  aboriginal  architecture,  see  Macmillan's  Dictionary 
of  Archtedure. 


PAI    UTE   WIKIUPS,    NORTHERN    ARIZONA 
From  photograph  by  the  Colorado  River  Expedition,  1872 


196  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

Ute  exhibits  about  the  lowest  type  of  house  used  by  man.  It  is 
said  the  chimpanzee  makes  a  rude  hut  of  boughs  and  branches, 
but  even  that  could  scarcely  be  less  simple  than  the  Arizona 
wikiup.  This  is  composed  merely  of  several  branches  arranged 
in  a  semi-circle,  or  rather  more  than  a  semi-circle,  eight  or  ten 
feet  in  height,  their  tops  together,  and  covered  with  boughs  of 
cedar  or  pine  or  any  other  convenient  brush.  About  one  third  of 
the  circumference  is  open  to  the  south,  and  opposite  this  side  the 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKT    KISI    CONSTRUCTION 

fire  is  built  a  few  feet  away.  The  Pai  Ute  is  surrounded  by 
remains  of  excellent  stone  dwellings  constructed  long  ago  by 
Amerinds  who  are  believed  to  be  of  the  same  general  stock,  but 
he  has  never  tried  to  improve  his  wikiup  of  his  own  accord.  The 
Utes,  his  kindred  on  the  north,  live  in  good  tipis,  but  the  Pai 
Ute  appears  never  to  have  noticed  the  fact.  The  Mokis,  also 
allied  to  him,  live  not  far  to  southward  in  excellent  houses,  yet  he 
has  never  attempted  to  emulate  them. 

In  the  kisi  construction  of  the  Mokis  we  may  perhaps  see  the 
beginning  of  even  the  wikiup.  The  kisi  is  a  sort  of  windbreak  and 
sun-shelter  lightly  constructed  of  boughs  and  made  in  two  ways, 
one  called  kishoni,  being  simply  poles  stuck  in  the  ground  in  the 
arc  of  a  circle  with  the  concave  side  towards  the  north,  and 


Shelters,   Dwellings,   and  Architecture  197 

interlaced  with  twigs  and  branches  to  form  a  shade.  The  other  kind 
is  built  by  planting  several  posts  with  crotches  at  their  tops  in  the 
ground  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram  and  laying  other  posts  or 
poles  across  from  crotch  to  crotch  and  covering  these  with  poles  to 
form  a  platform  or  roof.  Against  the  whole,  on  the  south  side, 
poles  and  branches  are  erected  to  form  a  shade.  These  affairs  are 
put  up  in  the  fields  to  protect  the  crop  tenders  when  there  is  no 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PRIMITIVE   AMERIND    LADDERS 


convenient  cliff  or  ledge  whereon  to  erect  a  better  structure  of  stone. 
Doubtless  out  of  these  shelters,  now  seen  in  the  field  structures, 
originally  grew  the  firm  adobe  and  stone  house,  by  one  step  or 
improvement  after  another,  and  probably  all  house  construction 
had  some  such  simple  beginning.  In  a  forested  area,  however,  the 
easy  construction  of  a  comfortable  house  out  of  poles  and  bark 
would  delay  any  development  of  a  durable  stone  or  adobe  struc 
ture  ;  the  adobe,  indeed,  would  not  be  durable  in  a  humid  climate. 
Protection  and  subsistence  dictated  the  region  a  tribe  or  a  stock 
should  occupy,  and  the  region  usually  determined  the  character 
of  the  house  or  shelter.  House  building,  in  its  beginnings,  is 


198  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


largely  a  result  of  environment,  and  was  developed  or  modified 
accordingly.  The  tribes  that  were  compelled  to  live  in  a  sterile, 
dry  country,  where  game  and  wood  were  both  scarce,  were  forced 
to  provide  themselves  with  different  food  and  different  shelter 
from  those  which  occupied  a  well-wooded  country  abounding  in 
game.  A  few  skins  and  poles,  in  the  latter  case,  would  quickly 
produce  a  house.  In  the  arid  region,  however,  man  was  not  pro 
vided  with  such  convenient  material.  His  shelter  from  the  sun 
cost  him  much  labour  and  he  was  obliged  to  transport  his  neces- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


A   NAVAJO    HOUSE 


sary  wood  long  distances.  Additions  to  the  shade  to  make  it 
more  comfortable  were  therefore  obtained  by  piling  up  stones 
or  scraping  together  the  mud  after  a  rain,  and  these  operations 
being  repeated,  a  development  of  skill  was  the  inevitable  re 
sult  ;  skill  which  eventually  produced  a  wall  all  round  the  sun- 
shelter,  with  the  beams  of  the  latter  resting  upon  them  instead  of 
upon  posts. 

It  seems,  therefore,  altogether  probable  that  stone  and  mud 
house  building  originated  in  arid  regions  ;  but  in  a  region  treeless, 
like  our  great  plains,  the  inevitable  outcome  in  the  line  of  a  shelter 
was  the  portable  tipi  (teepee),  because  there  bison  hides  were  at 
hand  for  covering,  but  poles  of  the  proper  sort  were  difficult  to 
secure  and  were  carried  along.  In  the  forest,  neither  portable 
tents  nor  stone  houses  were  necessary.  It  would  only  be  when 
population  was  dense  enough  to  destroy  the  game  and  timber,  or 
when  a  people  were  forced  to  an  arid  region,  that  the  stone 
house  would  develop.  The  Iroquois  was  a  forest  Amerind, 
and  he  built  a  house  of  wood  that  was  excellent  in  construc 
tion  and  answered  his  purpose  admirably.  The  Navajo  occupying 


Shelters,   Dwellings,   and  Architecture  199 

an  arid  region  has  been  content  with  a  rude  shelter  of  boughs  and 
branches  or  with  boughs  or  poles  covered  with  mud.  They  have 
never  profited  by  the  example  of  their  Moki  neighbours,  and 
built  substantial  houses, — one  reason,  and  the  chief  one,  being  that 
their  habit  of  never  occupying  again  any  shelter  where  death 
has  occurred  has  precluded  it,  for  they  do  not  care  to  bestow 
great  labour  on  a  structure  that  they  may  be  called  upon  any  time 
to  abandon.  There  are  then  other  causes  besides  ability,  or  ina 
bility,  to  build  substantially  that  determine  the  character  of  the 
Amerind  house. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


A    SWEAT    HOUSE 


Bandelier  states  that  the  Pimas  "  dwelt  in  scattered  hamlets, 
the  houses  of  which  combine  to-day  the  mud  roof  of  a  typical  New 
Mexican  pueblo  with  the  temporary  framework  of  frail  branches 
characteristic  of  the  roaming  savage."  1  The  roof  is  dome- 
shaped,  but  it  is  similar  in  material  to  the  Pueblo  mud  roof, 
so  that  there  we  have  a  sort  of  a  cross  between  the  Moki  field 
shelter,  already  mentioned,  and  the  Navajo  hut  or  hogan. 
The  stock  from  which  the  present  Pimas  descended  are  sup- 
1  Bandelier,  Final  j*vV/w/,  part  i.,  p.  103. 


20O  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

posed  to  have  built  the  remarkable  structure  in  Arizona  known 
as  Casa  Grande,  found  in  ruins  by  the  first  explorers.  Tribes 
alter  their  methods  of  building,  either  from  summer  to  winter  or 
at  different  epochs.  The  Omahas  at  one  time  made  lodges  of 
wood,  at  another  of  earth,  and  at  still  another  time  they  dwelt  in 
tipis  of  skin.  If  a  stone-house-building  tribe  should  migrate  to  a 
region  where  neither  loose  flat  stones  nor  adobe  clay  could  be 
readily  obtained,  they  would  be  forced  to  use  timber.1  The  Zuni 
languages  and  traditions  point  to  the  occupancy  by  the  Pueblos  in 
early  times  of  brush  houses  like  those  of  the  Pai  Utes.  The 
Mohaves  live  in  low  huts  of  branches  covered  with  mud. 

The  communal  principle  of  living  pervaded  America  and 
largely  determined  the  size  and  character  of  the  dwellings.  A 
number  of  families  usually  lived  together,  in  the  same  house,  or  in 
a  group  of  rooms  or  houses.  The  "  long-house  "  of  the  Iroquois, 
called  by  them  hodenosote,  and  the  clustered  fortress-houses  of  the 
Pueblos,  are  good  examples  of  the  results  of  the  practice  of  the 
communal  principles  adhered  to  by  most  of  the  Amerinds.  It  is 
also  believed  by  some  of  the  best  authorities,  like  Bandelier  and 
Morgan,  that  the  Mexican  and  Mayan  houses  were  largely  due  to 
the  same  cause. 

Among  the  Omahas  the  tipis  were  usually  grouped  according  to 
gentes.2  Tipi  and  wigwam  are  frequently  used  by  us  as  synony 
mous,  and  in  some  dictionaries  a  picture  of  a  tipi  is  made  to  repre 
sent  a  wigwam.3  This  is  an  error  due  to  unfamiliarity  with 
different  forms  of  Amerind  dwellings.  The  tipi  is  generally  a 
portable  structure  while  the  wigwam  is  always  fixed,  and  the  latter 
is  also  of  a  different  shape.  Tipi  is  a  Dakota  term  and  wigwam 
is  Algonquin.  Tipi  is  really  the  plural  for  "  house,"  the  singular 
being  "  ti,"  and  "  pi  "  a  termination  indicating  plurality.4  It  is 
constructed  by  arranging  a  number,  sometimes  as  many  as  twenty 
or  thirty,  long  poles,  previously  tied  together  near  their  tops,  in  a 

1  Or,  if  the  climate  should  change,  the  character  of  the  house  might 
change  with  it. 

2  For  full  information  on  Dakota  customs,  etc.,  see  the  papers  of  the 
late  Rev.  James  Owen  Dorsey  in  the  third,   eleventh,  thirteenth,  and  fif 
teenth  Ann.  Repts.  Bu.  Eth. 

3  Wigwam  is  frequently  used  in  a  general  sense  to  designate  any  Amer 
ind  house  of  the  skin  or  earth  or  wood  type. 

4  Se  " ti  "  and  "pi"  in  Dakota-English  Dictionary,  vol.  vii.  ;    Cont. 
U.  S.  G.  S.,  pp.  421,  467. 


Shelters,    Dwellings,   and  Architecture          201 

circle  of  about  ten  or  fifteen  feet  diameter.  This  conical  frame  is 
then  covered  with  bison  hides  sewed  together  in  one  sheet,  or  in 
modern  days  with  canvas,  shaped  properly  and  laced  or  pinned 
together  along  the  middle  third  of  the  junction  of  the  covering 
mantle.  The  upper  third  is  left  loose,  and  its  pointed  ends  are 


U.  S.  Bu,  Eth. 


AN    OMAHA   TIPI 


extended  up  and  out  by  means  of  outside  poles  stuck  into  pockets 
in  their  extreme  upper  corners,  according  to  the  direction  of  the 
wind,  to  let  the  smoke  escape  from  the  fire  built  in  the  middle  of 


2O2  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  interior.  If  the  wind  blows  straight  at  these  flaps  they  are 
brought  close  together.  Sometimes  an  extra  skin  is  adjusted  at 
the  top  so  that  it  can  be  placed  on  any  side  to  accomplish  this  ob 
ject.  The  lower  third  is  left  open  for  a  doorway,  another  skin 
being  adjusted  before  it  with  a  stick  to  spread  it  near  its  upper 
end,  which  end  is  attached  to  the  tent.  The  bottom  of  the  tent 
cover  is  held  down  by  stakes  or  pins  driven  into  the  ground.  In 
case  of  high  winds,  stones  or  other  weights  are  placed  on  the  bot 
tom  edge  of  the  skins  to  keep  them  down.  In  summer  the  Omahas, 
and  other  tribes  of  the  Dakotas,  erected,  when  convenient,  an 
elliptical  lodge  covered  with  bark,  the  roof  being  rounded  and  the 
construction  being  generally  similar  to  the  Algonquin  elliptical 
wigwam.  It  was  not  more  than  seven  feet  high,  while  the  tipi  is 
twelve  to  twenty  or  more.  These  tribes  also  sometimes  built  earth 
lodges,  chiefly  for  summer  use,  the  roofs  of  which  resembled  in 
construction  those  of  the  Pueblo  houses,  though  they  were  conical. 
A  number  of  posts  were  set  up  in  the  ground  to  support  in  their 
crotches  the  transverse  beams  upon  which  numerous  slender  poles, 
about  two  inches  in  diameter,  were  laid  to  reach  almost  to  the  top 
where  a  hole  for  the  exit  of  smoke  was  left.  Against  the  outer 
series  of  posts  all  around  slabs  of  wood  were  set  up  and  the  whole 
was  then  covered  with  earth  a  foot  or  two  thick  after  matting  and 
a  layer  of  grass,  or  grass  alone,  was  placed  on  the  rafters  or  roof 
poles.  This  lodge  was  circular,  the  roof  being  conical,  and  it  was 
entered  through  a  covered  way  about  ten  feet  long  and  five  feet 
wide,  the  outer  opening  of  which  was  protected  by  hanging  bison 
hides.  The  supporting  poles  or  posts  were  arranged  in  two  con 
centric  circles,  in  large  lodges,  the  inner  set  being  higher  than 
the  outer.  Compartments  within  opening  toward  the  fire  were 
formed  of  willow  matting,  or  skins. 

The  regular  tipi  was  decorated  in  accordance  with  tribal  cus 
toms.  Dorsey  has  published  some  careful  notes  on  this  as  on  other 
matters  connected  with  the  tribes  of  the  Dakota  stock,  and  Catlin 
has  also  given  descriptions.  The  decorations  were  often  the  result 
of  a  vision.  If  a  man  had  a  vision  of  the  aurora  he  depicted  it  on 
his  robes  and  tent,  the  latter  having  a  band  of  paint  around  the 
bottom,  above  which  was  a  zigzag  border  from  which,  on  one  side, 
three  stripes  were  drawn  to  the  top  of  the  tent,  four  on  the  other, 
and  one  in  the  rear.  If  he  had  a  vision  of  the  night  or  of  some 
other  "  superterrestrial  object,  he  blackened  the  upper  part  of  his 


204  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

tent  and  a  small  portion  on  each  side  of  the  entrance."  Some 
times  a  star  was  also  indicated,  and  night  was  represented  by  a 
black  band  above  the  middle  or  at  the  bottom.  A  tent  similar  to 
the  Dakota  dpi  is  in  wide  use  among  the  Amerinds.  Morgan 
states  that  the  Dakotas  were  living  in  bark-covered  houses  when 
first  discovered,  in  villages,  in  the  present  state  of  Minnesota,  and 
that  when  they  were  driven  "  upon  the  plains  by  an  advancing 
white  population,  but  after  they  had  become  possessed  of  horses, 
they  invented  a  skin  tent  eminently  adapted  to  their  present 
nomadic  condition.  It  is  superior  to  any  other  in  use  among  the 
American  aborigines  from  its  roominess,  its  portable  character, 
and  the  facility  with  which  it  can  be  erected  and  struck."  '  While 
this  is  probably  accurate  as  concerns  the  Dakotas,  it  is  likely  that 
other  tribes  invented  a  similar  tent  for  themselves,  before  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  Dakotas  on  the  plains.2  Three  tipis  among  the 
Omahas  were  sacred,  and  sheltered  three  sacred  objects,  the  Sacred 
Pole,  the  Sacred  White  Buffalo-Cow  Skin,  and  the  Sacred  Bag. 
These  are  all  now  in  the  Peabody  Museum  at  Cambridge.  They 
were  built  like  the  common  tipi. 

The  wigwam  of  the  Algonquins  was  built  in  two  general  ways, 
using  bark  or  mats  for  covering.  One  form  is  made  by  planting 
elastic  poles  in  the  ground  and  bringing  their  tops  together,  and 
binding  the  whole  with  horizontal  poles.  It  is  unlike  the  tipi,  be 
cause  it  is  not  portable,  because  the  poles  are  flexible,  and  because 
the  sides  curve  out  from  bottom  to  top  instead  of  being  straight 
lines.  It  is  covered  with  birchbark.  It  is  from  ten  to  sixteen 
feet  in  diameter  on  the  ground,  and  from  six  to  ten  feet  high. 
The  fire  was  built,  as  in  the  tipi,  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  in  a 
slight  depression,  and  the  usual  outlet  for  smoke  was  left  at  the 
top.  "  Such  a  lodge,"  says  Morgan,  "  would  accommodate,  in 
the  aboriginal  plan  of  living,  two  and  sometimes  three  married 
pairs  with  their  children."  3  The  Menominee- Algonquin  form  of 
wigwam  was  made  by  planting  in  the  ground  about  three  feet 

'Lewis  H.  Morgan,  "Houses  and  House  Life  of  the  American  Abor 
igines,"  Contributions  to  N.  A.  Ethnology,  vol.  iv.,  p.  114. 

2  Castaneda  describes  the  Querechos  and  Teyas  in   1540  as  travelling, 
"like  the  Arabs,  with  their  tents  and  troops  of  dogs  loaded  with  poles,  and 
having  Moorish  pack-saddles   and   girths." — Winship's  translation,   Four 
teenth  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  527. 

3  Morgan's  "Houses  and  House  Life,"  etc.,  p.  113. 


Shelters,   Dwellings,  and  Architecture          205 

apart,  approximating  the  form  of  an  ellipse,  strong  saplings  some 
two  inches  in  diameter,  leaving  at  each  end  an  opening  for  a  door 
way.  The  poles  are  then  bent  over  toward  each  other  and  tied  in 
an  arch  with  strips  of  bark.  Horizontal  poles  are  tied  on  to  the 
upright  ones  for  stiffening,  and  the  frame  is  then  covered  with 
bark  or  mats  overlapping  each  other  like  sh'nigl^jjSjj^.  usual 
smoke  outlet  is  left  in  the  top.  A  mat  curtain  tafl  Klace  of 
a  door.  There  were  seldom,  or  never,  regular  doHH^Tny  Ame 
rind  houses  on  the  continent  before  the  Disco veryjthe  opening 
being  closed  by  curtains  or  mats.  Another  Meiiominee  shelter, 
described  by  Hoffman,  was  made  by  "  putting  five  or  six  sap 
lings  on  each  side  of  a  parallelogram  ;  the  ends  are  left  open,  and 
the  top  of  each  sapling  on  a  given  side  is  then  bound  down  over 
its  opposite  fellow  to  form  a  roof  somewhat  resembling  a  wagon- 
top.  Horizontal  saplings  are  then  bound  around  the  framework 
to  make  the  structure  secure,  and  over  all  are  laid,  longitudinally, 
a  series  of  long  strips  of  pine  bark  the  upper  pieces  overlapping 
those  below,  while  a  large  piece  is  placed  over  the  highest  part  of 
the  roof,  which  thus  sheds  the  rain  or  melting  snow.  .  .  . 
The  bedding  is  spread  on  the  ground  and  usually  covers  the 
entire  floor."  ' 

The  eastern  portion  of  the  continent  below  Labrador,  being 
well-forested,  the  Amerind  houses  there  appear  to  have  been  en 
tirely  of  wood,  or  sometimes  of  wood  and  mud  combined.  For 
this  reason  nothing  of  any  of  them,  except  occasional  earth  rings, 
is  to  be  found  and,  so  far  as  remains  of  houses  are  concerned,  our 
wonderful,  surpassing  Moundbuilders  appear  to  have  had  no 
houses.  Turning  to  other  Amerinds,  however,  who  occupied  the 
country  when  the  whites  arrived,  we  glean  a  fair  idea  of  what  the 
houses  of  the  Mississippi  valley  may  have  been  at  their  best. 
They  varied  in  design  in  the  same  locality,  of  course,  according  to 
the  tribe,  in  the  same  way  that  I  have  mentioned  that  in  the 
South-west  we  find  to-day  Amerinds  living  in  the  most  primitive 
form  of  dwelling  not  many  miles  away  from  others  living  in  high 
types. 

Some  of  the  Mississippi  valley  houses  were  doubtless  excellent 
structures  though  built  of  wood,  or  of  wattling  plastered  with 
mud.  Many  of  the  mounds,  squares,  and  circles  were  connected 

1  W.  J.  Hoffman,  "The  Menominee  Indians,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu,  Eth.,  pp.  254-55. 


206  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

with  buildings,  generally  forming  the  foundations  for  dwellings  or 
other  structures  as  in  other  parts  of  the  continent.1  In  other 
words,  they  were  often  platforms  for  houses.  The  reasons  for 
building  a  house  on  a  platform  raised  above  the  surrounding 
lands  might  be  many  ;  one  simple  one  was  a  desire  to  keep  the 
floor  dry  in  wet  weather.  The  floor  was  earth,  and  earth  on  a 
level  during  long  rains  got  uncomfortably  damp  if  not  wet.  It 
would  be  natural  in  building,  after  such  lessons,  to  elevate  the  floor 
of  the  house,  which  was  done  by  rearing  a  platform  of  earth. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY    METHOD    OF    USING    JACAL    CONSTRUCTION, 
ACCORDING   TO    THOMAS 

This  gave  good  drainage,  and  besides  in  a  malarial  region  would 
be  more  healthful,  and  furthermore  added  to  the  defensive  quali 
ties.  The  habitations  being  built  upon  platforms,  it  would  not 
do  to  build  sacred  structures  on  low  ground.  Man  seldom  looks 
down  upon  his  spiritual  constructions.  Hence  the  higher  the 
sacred  building  could  be  placed,  the  more  sacred  it  seemed,  and 
the  huge  flat-topped  mounds  of  the  Mississippi  valley  and  Mexico 
were  the  result.  Some  of  the  Florida  Amerinds  were  still  living 
in  dwellings  reared  on  platforms  of  this  kind,  and  so  were  others 
in  the  Southern  United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  first  visits  of  the 
whites.  The  mounds,  as  a  rule,  are  on  the  bottom  lands  along 
river  courses,  though  in  places  where  there  are  higher  terraces 
these  have  frequently  been  chosen.  Thomas  quotes  the  following 
passage  from  Garcilasso  :  "  The  town  and  the  houses  of  the  ca 
cique  Ossac'hile  are  like  those  of  other  caciques  in  Florida.  .  .  . 

'The  Lenape  houses  "were  built  in  groups  and  surrounded  with  a 
palisade.  ...  In  the  centre  was  sometimes  erected  a  mound  of  earth, 
both  as  a  place  of  observation  and  as  a  location  to  place  the  children  and 
women." — Brinton,  The  Lenape,  p.  51. 


Shelters,    Dwellings,   and  Architecture          207 

The  Indians  try  to  place  their  villages  on  elevated  sites  ;  but  in 
asmuch  as  in  Florida  there  are  not  many  sites  of  this  kind  where 
they  can  conveniently  build,  they  erect  elevations  themselves  in 
the  following  manner  :  They  select  the  spot  and  carry  there  a 
quantity  of  earth,  which  they  form  into  a  kind  of  platform  two  or 
three  pikes  in  height,  the  summit  of  which  is  large  enough  to  give 
room  for  twelve,  fifteen,  or  twenty  houses,  to  lodge  the  cacique 
and  his  attendants.  At  the  foot  of  this  elevation  they  mark  out 
a  square  place,  according  to  the  size  of  the  village,  around  which 
the  leading  men  have  their  houses.  .  .  .  To  ascend  the  ele 
vation  they  have  a  straight  passageway  from  bottom  to  top,  fifteen 
or  twenty  feet  wide.  Here  steps  are  made  by  massive  beams,  and 
others  are  planted  firmly  in  the  ground  to  serve  as  walls.  On  all 
other  sides  of  the  platform  the  sides  are  cut  steep."  J  Thomas 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

CLIFF   OUTLOOK,    CANYON    DEL    MUERTO,    ARIZONA 

quotes  further  from  Garcilasso  :  "  The  chief,  whose  name  was  also 
Guaxule,  came  out  with  five  hundred  men  to  meet  him  and  took 
him  in  the  village  (pueblo)  in  which  were  three  hundred  houses, 
and  lodged  him  in  his  own.  This  house  stood  on  a  high  mound 
(cerro)  similar  to  others  we  have  already  mentioned.  Round 
about  was  a  roadway  sufficiently  broad  for  six  men  to  walk 
abreast."  Again  he  quotes  L,e  Page  Du  Pratz,  who  visited  the 
Natchez  in  1720  :  "  As  I  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  sovereign 
of  the  Natchez  he  showed  me  their  temple,  which  is  about  thirty 
feet  square,  and  stands  on  an  artificial  mount  about  eight  feet 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,    "Mound   Explorations,"    Twelfth  Ann,   Rept.   Bu. 
Eth.,  p.  647.  *Ibid.,  p.  649. 


208  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

high,  by  the  side  of  a  small  river."  '  There  was  also  still  another 
reason  for  building  on  mounds  or  elevated  platforms  ;  the  reason, 
or  at  least  one  great  reason,  why  the  Mayas  and  Mexicans  built  on 
them,  namely  the  desire  to  protect  the  foundations.  In  Louisiana 
the  Taensas,  in  the  time  of  La  Salle,  built  of  "  sun-baked  mud 
mixed  with  straw,  arched  over  with  a  dome-shaped  roof."  Now 
a  structure  of  this  kind  if  reared  on  ordinary  ground  would  soon 
be  destroyed  by  the  rains  and  moisture  sapping  its  foundations, 
but  by  placing  it  on  an  elevated  platform,  where  its  footing  would 
be  comparatively  dry,  it  would  endure  a  long  time.  A  sacred 
house  would  be  likely  to  be  so  placed,  if  not  others. 

Every  tribe  had  some  kind  of  a  sacred  structure,  the  Omahas 
carrying  from  place  to  place  the  three  sacred  tents  referred  to. 
The  sacred  structures,  too,  were  generally  of  the  same  style  as  the 
house  of  the  chief.  Each  village  of  the  Natchez  had  a  house  de 
voted  to  the  dead,  besides  others  dedicated  to  different  sacred 
objects.  The  death-house  was  oval,  "  having  a  circumference  of 
one  hundred  feet — a  simple  hut  without  a  window,  and  with  a  low 
and  narrow  opening  on  the  side  for  the  only  door."  Here  were 
"  garnered  the  choicest  fetiches  of  the  tribe,  of  which  some  were 
moulded  from  clay  and  baked  in  the  sun.  There,  too,  were  gathered 
the  bones  of  the  dead;  there  an  undying  fire  was  kept  burning  by 
appointed  guardians  as  if  to  warm  and  light  and  cheer  the  de 
parted."  3  "  Hard  by  the  temple,  on  an  artificial  mound  of  earth, 
stood  the  hut  of  the  Great  Sun  ;  around  it  were  grouped  the 
cabins  of  the  tribe."  3 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  give  any  further  space  to  show  that 
the  mounds  that  have  aroused  so  much  discussion  and  romantic 
writing  were,  many  of  them,  the  foundations  for  various  structures 
reared  by  Amerinds  as  we  know  them. 

Morgan  advanced  a  theory  that  the  hollow  square  earthworks 
were  the  foundations  for  long  buildings,  at  one  and  the  same  time 
dwellings  and  a  part  of  the  defences,  the  interior  area  being  used 
for  a  work  place,  children's  playground,  etc.  Many  Algonquin 
houses  were  made  of  a  parallelogram  shape,  with  straight  sides 
about  eight  feet  high  and  a  rounded  roof.  These  houses  were 
fifty  or  more  feet  long,  and  the  matting  with  which  they  were 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Twelfth  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  653. 

2  Francis  Parkman,  Discovery  of  the  West,  p.  277.^ 

3  George  Bancroft,  U.  S.  History. 


210  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

covered  could  be  readily  removed  to  let  in  the  sun  and  air.  As  a 
rule  the  villages  were  surrounded  by  palisades.  The  Iroquois,  as 
well  as  most  other  Amerinds,  lived  in  permanent  villages,  which 


f      i~  -^  -•^C'j «- ^  >~~  o-c=o"-':-t — "^^r^L^o--^-^  3T^ 'j^T"""-  _~"  ^C2?rls~3 

i^Ti  _- __i>Ar  x1  ~^^^^^^-^~-=^^~^^^^.^^-rc::^^--^  ^^j?^$5f ;    i 


Field  Columbian  Museum  W.  H.  Holmes 

TRANSVERSE    SECTION  (SOMEWHAT    GENERALISED)    SHOWING    CONSTRUCTION    OF 

PALENQUE   BUILDINGS,    YUCATAN 

f,  trefoil  opening  through  medial  wall ;  g,  h,  two  principal  varieties  of  roof  comb 

were  at  first  stockaded.  They  used  three  kinds  of  houses  ;  a 
triangular  lodge  made  of  poles  with  bark  for  a  covering,  used  in 
hunting,  and  the  ganosote  or  smaller  bark  house  constructed  in  the 
same  way  as  the  third  kind,  the  hodZnosote  or  "  long-house,"  which 


A     TRIANGULAR     SIPAPU     OR 
SACRED    KIVA    ORIFICE 


PUEBLO  ROOF   CONSTRUCTION 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


Wood  SOME   MOKI    ROOF   DRAINS.  Stone 

SOME   DETAILS    OF    PUEBLO    HOUSE    ARCHITECTURE 


211 


212  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

was  built  to  accommodate  a  number  of  families.  This  was  sometimes 
a  hundred  feet  long,  and  from  it  came  the  name  Hodenosaunee  by 
which  the  great  League  of  the  Five  (Six)  Nations  was  known  to 
the  world  and  to  themselves.  It  was  made  by  planting  poles  in 
the  ground  and  binding  others  across  them  to  make  a  strong  frame 
of  the  shape  of  a  parallelogram,  upon  which  a  roof  of  triangular 
pattern  was  built  out  of  poles  covered  with  bark.  Sometimes  the 
roof  was  round  like  that  of  many  Algonquin  tribes,  and  that  of 
the  ganosote  was  very  frequently  round.  The  height  of  the  sides 
was  about  ten  feet.  The  ganosote  was  about  fifteen  by  twenty 
feet  and  fifteen  feet  high,  with  inside  a  kind  of  double  berth  built 
against  the  longer  walls  like  the  berths  in  a  ship.  It  would  accom 
modate  eight  persons.  The  entrance  was  closed  by  skins  or  by 
bark  hung  on  wooden  hinges.  The  covering  was  bark  held  in 
place  by  an  outer  set  of  poles  tied  through  to  the  inside  ones. 
The  long-house  was  divided  into  a  number  of  chambers  six  or 
eight  feet  wide  with  a  passageway  through  all  from  end  to  end 
where  the  doors  were.  ' '  Between  each  four  apartments,  two  on 
a  side,  was  a  fire-pit  in  the  center  of  the  hall,  used  in  common  by 
their  occupants.  .  .  .  Raised  bunks  were  constructed  around 
the  walls  of  each  apartment  for  beds."  1  These  structures  consti 
tuted  the  village  which  wras  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  sometimes 
a  double  or  triple  row.  The  houses  were  placed  without  arrange 
ment  ;  and  when  the  league  grew  powerful  the  palisade  was  dis 
pensed  with.  The  Lenape  "  constructed  small  wattled  huts  with 
rounded  tops  thatched  with  the  leaves  of  the  Indian  corn  or  with 
sweetflags.  ...  In  summer  light  brush  tents  took  the  place 
of  these. ' '  2 

On  the  North-west  coast  the  native  houses  are  usually  built  of 
cedar  slabs.  These  slabs  are  split  out  of  the  wide  trees  3  and  the 
walls  are  obtained  by  securing  them  in  an  upright  position  to 
a  frame  about  ten  feet  high.  On  this  rests  the  roof  of  split 
shakes,  bark,  or  boards,  laid  on  rafters  which  are  supported  in  the 
middle  by  two  long,  heavy  beams,  running  the  entire  length  of 
the  house,  and  themselves  borne  up  by  four  huge  posts,  often 

1  Iv.  H.  Morgan,  Houses  and  House  Life,  p.  120  ;  see  also  The  Iroquois 
League,  by  Morgan. 

*  Brinton,  The  American  Race,  p.  77. 

3Gibbs  cites  a  split  plank  he  saw  in  Puget  Sound  region,  24  feet  long 
and  4^  feet  wide. 


Shelters,    Dwellings,   and  Architecture          213 

carved  with  totemic  emblems.  The  general  outward  appearance 
of  these  houses  is  much  like  an  ordinary  low  one-story  house  or 
barn  of  our  own,  except  that  in  the  middle  of  the  roof  there  is  a 
large  square  hole  for  a  smoke  outlet,  the  fire  being  made  on  a 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKI  NOTCHED  DOORWAY,  SO  MADE  THAT  LARGE  BUNDLES  COULD  BE  TAKEN  IN 
The  transom  was  probably  at  first  a  smoke  outlet 

patch  of  sand  or  earth  that  forms  a  square  about  nine  by  ten  feet 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  the  size  depending  on  the  dimensions 
of  the  house.  They  are  usually  about  thirty  or  forty  feet  square,1 

1  Gibbs  mentions  a  house  of  the  Makah,  north-west  Washington,  75  feet 
long,  40  wide,  and  15  high,  all  one  room  ;  and  another  used  for  festivals  520 
feet  long,  60  feet  wide,  15  feet  high  in  front,  and  10  feet  in  the  rear. — 
George  Gibbs,  "Tribes  of  Western  Washington  and  North-western  Oregon," 
Contributions  U.  S.  G.  S.,  vol.  i.,  p.  215. 


214  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  interior  forming  one  large  room,  sometimes  having  a  platform 
on  one  or  two  sides  or  all  the  way  round  about  six  feet  wide  and 
two  feet  high.  This  is  divided  by  thin  partitions  into  small  com 
partments,  which  are  covered  about  six  feet  above  the  floor  with 
a  ceiling  of  thin  boards.  A  curtain  in  front  makes  a  room  of  it. 
These  houses  vary  somewhat  in  the  different  localities,  but  the 
type  is  about  the  same  from  the  Puget  Sound  region  to  Yakutat 
Bay.  Some  of  the  Sound  Amerinds  give  but  one  pitch  to  the 
roof.  Many  of  the  natives  now  build  a  house  of  sawed  materials 
and  roof  it  with  shingles  so  that  their  modern  villages,  like  the 
one  at  Sitka,  present  outwardly  few  Amerind  signs,  as  they  usually 
have  chimneys,  too,  instead  of  smoke  holes.  Where  they  have 
the  latter,  boards  are  stuck  up  above  the  ridge  to  form  a  wind 
break,  or  a  more  perfect  arrangement  for  preventing  back 
draught  is  applied  in  the  shape  of  a  large  solid  shutter  so  pivoted 
in  the  middle  line  that  it  can  be  tilted  from  one  side  of  the  ridge 
to  the  other.  Among  some  tribes  there  are  several  smoke  holes 
with  adjustable  boards  that  can  be  worked  from  below  with  a  pole. 
The  entire  front  gable  of  a  chief's  house  or  an  assembly  house  is 
often  ornamented  with  a  huge  totemic  design,  painted  on  smooth 
boards  that  fill  the  whole  space.  In  front  of  the  house  stood  the 
tall  pole  bearing  the  totems  of  the  inmates  carved,  one  above  an 
other,  with  a  full  relief  totem  adorning  the  top.  Small  houses 
were  built  to  hold  the  boxes  containing  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  and 
the  roof  was  sometimes  surmounted  with  a  totem  carved  in  wood, 
or  the  totem  was  erected  on  a  small  pole  nearby,  or  placed  under 
the  roof. 

In  all  the  constructions  of  the  Amerinds  of  the  North-west 
coast  we  perceive  the  powerful  influence  of  surroundings  on  a 
primitive  people.  The  region  abounds  in  superb  cedars  with  a 
grain  so  fine  and  straight  that  the  logs  can  be  readily  split  into 
slabs  a  couple  of  inches  thick,  that  are  admirable  material  for 
building  purposes.  Then  there  are  plenty  of  young  straight  hem 
locks,  firs,  and  cedars  for  rafters  and  framework,  so  that  these 
Amerinds,  like  those  of  the  cliff  region  of  the  South-west,  had  their 
building  material  almost  ready  made.  Being  largely  fishermen, 
they  were  not  well  supplied  with  skins,  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to 
make  pole  lodges  covered  with  them,  as  was  the  case  with  many 
Amerinds  of  the  interior,  where  trees  were  absent  or  hard  to  split 
and  where  skins  were  plenty. 


Shelters,   Dwellings,   and  Architecture          215 


In  California  a  variety  of  houses  was  built,  as  there  are  many 
different  stocks  and  conditions.  The  Yokuts  made  them  of  tule 
mats  in  the  shape  of  an  "  A  "  tent  with  a  door  at  the  front.  A 
half  dozen  or  more  of  these  were  placed  in  a  row  and  above  them 
a  flat  sun-shelter  of  branches  laid  on  a  platform  of  poles  supported 
by  crotched  posts  set  in  the  ground.  Others  build  a  hut  of  slabs 
or  bark  brought  to  a  point 
and  open  on  one  side,  like  a 
tipi  cut  in  two.  Others  again 
live  in  wikiups  made  by  cover 
ing  a  square  framework  with 
boughs,  leaving  one  side  open. 
When  the  side  of  an  Amerind 


A  ZUNI  CHIMNEY,  MOKI  THE  SAME 


ONE  FORM  OF  MOKI  CHIMNEY  HOOD 


hut  is  left  open  in  this  way,  the  opening  always  faces  the 
south,  except  in  hot  weather,  when  it  generally  faces  the  other 
way.  Another  California  tribe  lives  in  earth  lodges  entered 
from  the  top  through  a  hole  or  hatch  with  steps  on  the  outside. 
This  lodge  was  made  by  excavating  a  couple  of  feet  and  putting 
this  earth  on  the  covering  framework,  for  a  roof.  In  the  mount 
ains  where  wood  was  plenty  they  frequently  used  no  earth  at  all, 
showing  how  quickly  they  adapted  themselves  to  circumstances. 
The  Modoc  "  excavates  a  circular  space  from  two  to  four  feet 
deep,  then  erects  over  it  a  rounded  structure  of  poles  and  punch 
eons,  strongly  braced  up  with  timbers,  sometimes  hewn  and 
squared.  The  whole  is  warmly  covered  with  earth,  and  an  aper 
ture  left  atop,  reached  by  a  centre  pole.  Before  the  coming  of  the 


216  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

whites  secured  them  against  the  constant  assaults  and  incursions 
of  their  enemies,  their  dwellings  were  slighter,  consisting  generally 
of  a  frame  of  willow  poles,  with  tule  matting  overspread."  1  An 
other  tribe  of  the  Pacific  Slope,  the  Makhelchel,  build  cabins  "  of 
slender  willow  poles  set  upright  in  the  ground,  with  others  cross 
ing  them  horizontally,  forming  a  square  lattice- work."  *  The 
Yokaya  have  a  lodge  or  dwelling  composed  of  a  "  huge  framework 
of  willow  poles  covered  with  thatch,  and  resembling  a  large  flattish 
haystack."  The  Karok  "  excavate  a  round  cellar,  four  or  five 
feet  deep  and  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  diameter.  Over  this  they 
build  a  square  cabin  of  split  poles  or  puncheons,  planted  erect  in 
the  ground  and  covered  with  a  flattish  puncheon  roof.  They  eat 
and  sleep  in  the  cellar  .  .  .  and  store  their  supplies  on  the 
bank  above  next  to  the  walls  of  the  cabin."  3  The  Maidu  make 
a  hut  of  slabs  placed  together  in  something  the  shape  of  a  tipi, 
with  a  low,  square  projection  for  an  entrance. 

Passing  northward  to  the  Aleuts,  we  find  "  houses  built  with 
the  floor  somewhat  below  the  level  of  the  outside  soil,  the  walls  of 
whale- ribs,  sticks  of  wood,  or  upright  stone  walls,  covered  outside 
with  mats,  straw  and  finally  turf.  .  .  .  The  roof  was  formed 
by  arching  whale-ribs,  or  long  sticks  of  driftwood,  matted, 
thatched,  and  turfed  like  the  sides,  with  a  central  aperture.  A 
platform,  somewhat  raised,  around  the  sides  of  the  house  afforded 
a  place  for  sitting  and  sleeping.  Later  each  village  had  a  large 
house  or  kashim,  which  served  as  a  common  work-shop,  and  a 
lodging  for  strangers,  as  well  as  for  a  town-hall  for  their  discus 
sions  and  festivals.  .  .  .  Still  later,  in  a  period  not  greatly 
antedating  the  historic,  the  Aleuts  began  to  build  large  com 
munistic  dwellings  with  features  peculiar  to  themselves,  without 
doors,  and  entered  by  the  hole  in  the  roof,  the  inmates  descending 
on  a  notched  log  placed  upright.  These  large  }^ourts  were 
divided,  by  partitions  of  wood,  stone,  or  matting,  into  small  rooms 
like  the  state-rooms  of  a  steamer,  but  without  doors  ;  open  toward 
the  center  of  the  yourt,  and  each  accommodating  one  family."  4 

It  will  be  noted  that  we  have  again  changed  materials  of  con 
struction  ;  and  why  ?  Because  the  Aleutian  Islands  are  devoid  of 
timber,  devoid  of  good  building  stone  that  an  Amerind  could  get 

1  Stephen  Powers,  "  Tribes  of  California,"  Contributions,  etc.,  vol.  iii., 
p.  255.  *  Ibid.,  p.  215.  3  Ibid.,  p.  45. 

4  \V.  H.  Dall,  "Tribes  of  Alaska,"  Contributions  U.  S.  G.  S.,  vol.  i.,  p.  82. 


Shelters,   Dwellings,  and  Architecture  217 

at,  and  he  resorted  therefore  to  what  there  was — driftwood,  whale- 
ribs,  turf,  etc.1  The  house  called  by  the  Russians  barabdra  seems 
to  have  been  originally  made  of  turf  even  to  the  roof,  and  I  saw 
examples  in  the  summer  of  1899  at  Unalaska  and  on  St.  Paul 
Island.  The  turf  or  sod  was  cut  into  slabs  and  laid  up  like  stones. 
Continuing  northward  we  reach  the  vast  treeless  arctic  regions, 
where  cold  is  the  great  enemy,  and  the  reader  wonders  what  man 
can  do  here  in  the  way  of  architecture.  He  has  done  considerable  : 


u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 


GROUND    PLAN    OF    ESKIMO    SNOW    IGLU 


amongst  other  things  he  devised  the  only  true  arch  found  on  the 
continent,  and  constructed  one  of  the  most  admirable  and  unique 
dwellings  in  the  world.  This  he  built  out  of  the  snow  which  fell 
about  him  and  prevented  him  from  securing  other  material.  The 
invention  of  the  snow  house  by  the  Eskimo,  or  Innuit,  as  they 
call  themselves,  was  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  over  environ 
ment  man  has  ever  accomplished.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  per 
fected  snow  house,  the  dome-shaped  iglugeak,  commonly  called  by 
us  igloo  or  iglu.  Iglu  is  the  Innuit  generic  term  for  "  house,"  the 
distinctive  name  for  snow  house  being  igiugeak.  This  snow 
house  is  begun  by  selecting  a  suitable  deep  drift  that  is  compact 
enough  to  permit  homogeneous  blocks  to  be  taken  from  it,  with 
the  snow-knife,  which  is  a  bone  tool  shaped  like  a  short  sword. 
Latterly  steel  saws  are  employed  when  they  have  them.  In  the 
pit  formed  by  removal  of  blocks  of  snow  the  builder  works  at  his 

1  The  tree  growth  ceases  at  about  the  line  of  the  village  of  Kodiak  on 
Kodiak  Island.  The  Aleuts  ranged  over  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  eastward 
as  far  as  Stepovak  Bay  on  the  peninsula. 


218  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

walls,  the  bottom  of  the  excavation  finally  forming  the  floor  of  the 
house.  The  first  block  is  bevelled  down  to  a  wedge  shape  with 
the  point  toward  the  beginning,  and  the  worker  goes  on  round  his 
circle,  and  when  he  comes  again  to  the  wedge  his  wall  rises  upon 
the  first  portion  and  continues  thus  in  a  spiral  fashion  to  the  top, 
constantly  narrowing  till  at  last  one  block  fills  the  opening.  It 
takes  two  to  adjust  this,  though  one  may  build  a  small  house  suc 
cessfully  to  that  last  point.  By  building  spirally  and  therefore 
continuously,  there  is  always  support  on  two  sides  for  the  last 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


SECTION    OF    SNOW    IGLU 


block  laid.  The  edges  are  slanted  at  the  same  time  to  bring  the 
tiers  gradually  toward  the  centre.  Joints  and  holes  are  filled  with 
snow,  though  a  small  hole  is  left  at  the  top  for  ventilation.  As 
the  heating  of  this  house  is  done  with  lamps  there  is  little  smoke* 
For  camping  purposes  a  small  snow  house  is  built,  seven  feet 
diameter  and  five  feet  high,  in  about  two  hours.  When  made  for 
permanent  use  the  house  is  about  twelve  feet  high  and  fifteen  feet 
diameter.  Plenty  of  light  comes  through  the  snow,  but  a  window 
of  ice  or  seal  intestine  is  often  placed  over  the  entrance,  which  is 
reached  by  a  more  or  less  extended  passage,  with  vaults  for  stor 
age,  by  the  way. 

But  though  this  house  is  so  cleverly  built,  and  is  warm,  and 
proof  against  everything  but  mild  weather,  the  Innuit,  if  he  can, 
will  build  a  permanent  winter  house  of  drift  wood,  stones,  earth, 


Shelters,   Dwellings,   and  Architecture  219 

and  sod  and  whale-ribs.  These  from  the  outside  look  like  mounds 
of  earth,  and  as  soon  as  warm  weather  comes  are  nothing  but  wet 
cellars,  which  the  inhabitants  quickly  abandon  for  the  time,  erect 
ing  with;their  walrus  and  seal  skins  a  summer  tent,  called  a  tupek 
or  topek.  The  Point  Barrow  tupek  is  something  like  a  tipi,  with 
out  a  smoke  hole,  as  the  fire  is  built  outside  when  they  can  secure 
wood  to  build  one.  All  the  Alaska  Innuit  now  use  canvas  tents 
of  the  ' '  wall ' '  pattern,  when  they  can  procure  them. 

The  Amerind  of  the  interior  of  the  northland,  where  timber 
grows,   utilises  it  and  the  skins  of   the  animals  he  kills.     The 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


AN    ALASKA   ESKIMO    WINTER    HOUSE,    POINT    BARROW 
Interior  and  sections  p.  221 


Nenenot  about  Hudson  Bay  occupy,  all  the  year  round,  a  tent 
almost  identical  with  the  Dakota  tipi. 

No  construction  on  the  continent  shows  more  skill  than  the 
Innuit  snow  iglu.  The  winter  houses,  of  snow  or  other  material, 
are  usually  occupied  by  two  or  more  families.  Many  interiors  of 
snow  houses  are  lined  with  the  summer  tent  covering  to  prevent 
the  drip  of  the  walls  from  falling  on  the  occupants. 

As  the  polar  regions  developed  the  snow-house;  forest  regions, 
bark  and  mat  houses  ;  barren  plains,  portable  tents  ;  so  arid  re 
gions,  where  disintegrating  cliffs  furnished  an  abundance  of  flat 
slabs  of  stone,  evolved  stone  houses,  and  broad  dry  valleys  or 


22O  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


plains  lacking  cliffs,  timber,  or  large  game,  but  yielding  good 
clay  soil,  produced  houses  of  mud  or  adobe  ;  or,  according  to  con 
ditions,  such  combinations  of  these  materials  as  were  easiest  and 
most  practicable.  It  is  next  in  order  to  review  the  houses  of  the 
arid  regions  constructed  of  stone,  adobe,  jacal,  cajon,  pise,1  etc., 
and  the  cavate  lodges.  To  do  full  justice  to  the  subject  of  houses 
would  require  a  separate  volume,  but  enough  may  be  given  here 
to  present  a  general  view.  The  occupied  villages  of  the  South 
western  United  States  are  similar  to  the  ruins  found  throughout 

that  region,  and 
the  cliff -dwell 
ings,  which  some 
writers  would 
clothe  with  mys- 

«=*Sir^          \        FW  ~X    H      tery,  as  has  been 

mentioned,  were 
no  more  mysteri 
ous  than  the  oc 
cupied  dwellings 
of  the  Moki  ;  or 
any  other  Pueblo 
village,  which, 
fortunately,  re 
mains  inhabited 
by  the  builders.2 
The  cliff-dwell 
ings  were  con 
structed  in  cliffs 
simply  because  it 
was  expedient  to 

build  them  there  and  not  because  the  builders  were  a  race  apart 
from  other  Amerinds.  The  canyons  where  the  cliff-dwellings  oc 
cur  have  bottom  lands  that  are  fertile  and  easily  irrigated,  both  by 
stream  water,  and  after  the  Pueblo  fashion,  by  guiding  shower 
waters  with  hoes  amongst  the  corn.  This  in  itself  was  a  sufficient 
object  for  building  in  the  canyons,  and  the  huge,  natural  conchoidal 

1  For  definitions  of  these  terms  see  Macmillan's  Dictionary  of  Archi 
tecture. 

2  Schwatka  found  cliff-dwellings  occupied  by  Tarahumaris  in  northern 
Mexico.     See  Cave  and  Cliff-Dwellers,  by  Frederick  Schwatka,  p.  187. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Etn. 

INTERIOR    GROUND    PLAN    OF    A   MOKI    HOUSE 


VERSITT 


INTERIOR   OF    WOOD    AND    EARTH    IGLU 


VERTICAL    SECTION. 
U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

AN    ALASKA   ESKIMO    WINTER    HOUSE    OF   WOOD    AND    EARTH,    POINT    BARROW 

221 


222  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

alcoves  that  .occur  in  the  faces  of  the  prevailing  formation  were 
attractive  places  to  build  in  for  several  reasons,  one  of  which  may 
have  been  protection  from  assault  and  the  weather,  and  another 
the  frequent  presence  of  springs  at  the  back  of  these  cavities. 
These  springs  have  almost  vanished,  in  many  cases  have  en 
tirely  disappeared,  owing  to  slightly  drier  conditions  now  prevail- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


STONE   STEPS   AT  ORAIBI 


ing.  But  I  have  frequently  noticed  at  the  back  part  of  many  of 
the  cavities  that  had  no  ruins,  or  few  ruins,  to  cover  it  up,  a 
moisture  that  might  at  times  increase  to  a  dripping,  or  even  flow 
ing,  that  would  furnish  enough  water  for  the  daily  supply  of  a 
considerable  Amerind  village.  The  construction  is  the  same  as 
other. Pueblo  houses  of  stone. 

The  inhabited  pueblos,  like  the  ruins,  usually  consist  of  a 
number  of  rooms  built  adjoining  or  on  top  of  each  other,  like  a 
lot  of  square  boxes  placed  in  rows  or  in  a  pyramidal  pile,  or  like 
a  series  of  steps,  with  the  total  height  at  the  back  often  straight 


224  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

down.     One  or  two  single-room  houses  are  first  built,  and  then 
additions  are  made  from  time  to  time  till  the  pile  grows  to  a  con- 


Photograph  by  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 

HOUSES    IN    WALPI,    ONE   OF   THE   MOKI   TOWNS,    ARIZONA 

In  this  are  well  seen  the  plastered  and  unplastered  walls  of  stone,  the  ladders  of  ascent,  the  "end 
wall"  steps,  the  notched  doorway,  with  transom,  the  projecting  roof  beams,  a  rabbit-skin  robe 
hanging  on  the  wall  above  the  right-hand  ladder,  and  also  on  the  left  the  entrance  to  a  passage 
way  through  to  another  court 

siderable  height  ;  three  or  four  stories.1     Groups  of  these  groups 
built  near  each  other  form  courts  between.     The  lower  tier  of 

1  In  early  days  upper  stories  in  New  Mexico  were  sometimes  built  of 
wood,  plastered. 


226  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

rooms,  in  olden  times,  was  not  entered  from  the  ground,  but  from 
the  roof  through  a  hatchway,  a  ladder  leading  up  on  the  outside 
and  down  on  the  inside.  The  upper  rooms,  or  houses,  were 
entered  from  the  roofs  of  the  lower  ones  ;  that  is,  the  roofs  of  the 
lower  rooms  formed  the  floors  of  the  upper  ones,  and  also  balconies 
in  front  of  the  rooms.  I  occupied  for  a  time  one  of  these  upper 
rooms  in  Tewa,  on  the  "  East  Mesa  "  at  the  Moki  towns,  and  I 
found  the  roof  in  front  of  my  door  a  delightful  place,  command 
ing  a  view  of  the  whole  mesa  and  a  hundred  miles  beyond.  I 
could  also  reach  the  top  of  my  house  easily,  by  a  sort  of  stairway 
formed  on  the  edge  of  the  prolonged  wall  that  separated  me  from 
my  neighbour,  and  as  this  was  the  summit  of  the  village  my  view 
was  superb.  Such  stairways  are  common  in  all  the  villages.  The 
ladders  by  which  the  various  roofs  are  reached  are  now  much  like 
our  own,  but  rudely  made,  and  the  upper  ends  are  often  very  long, 
extending  in  many  cases  far  above  the  house-top.  The  walls, 
about  a  foot  thick,  are  of  stone  slabs  laid  in  adobe  mortar,  and  are 
generally  built  up  by  the  women,  who  take  their  own  time  to  the 
work,  adding  a  few  stones  whenever  they  feel  like  it.  Beams  of 
small  tree-trunks,  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter,  form  the  basis 
of  the  flat  roof.1  They  are  laid  across  the  top  of  the  walls  and  the 
ends,  if  too  long,  usually  allowed  to  project  beyond.  These  are 
covered  with  smaller  poles  laid  about  a  foot  apart,  and  on  these 
are  spread  slender  willows  or  reeds,  with  a  layer  of  grass  or  twigs 
next,  on  which  a  layer  of  adobe  mortar  is  laid  and  earth  trod 
den  down  on  top  till  it  is  firm,  when  a  finish  is  made  with  an 
other  coat  of  adobe  mortar.  A  slight  pitch  is  given  to  the  roof. 
No  plumb  line,  level,  or  square  was  used  by  the  Amerinds  any 
where  on  the  continent  so  far  as  is  now  known.  Sometimes  the 
floors  are  paved  with  irregular  flat  sandstone  slabs,  but  in  most 
houses  the  floor  is  formed  by  a  coat  of  adobe  mortar  which  is 
patched  and  renewed  as  needed.  Moccasined  feet  are  not  hard 
on  such  a  surface,  but  my  heavy  soled  shoes  were  the  despair  of 
the  owner  of  my  habitation.  The  hand  is  used  as  a  trowel.  The 
chimney  is  usually  at  one  corner,  and  did  not  exist  in  America 
previous  to  the  sixteenth  century.  A  hood  is  built  down  from 
the  roof  to  within  about  three  or  four  feet  of  the  floor,  to  catch 

1  For  details  of  Pueblo  architecture,  see  paper  on  the  subject  by  Victor 
Mindeleff,  Eighth  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.  And  "The  Cliff  Ruins  of  Canyon 
de  Chelly,"  by  Cosmos  Mindeleff,  Sixteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


SECTION  THROUGH.  A  B< 


SECTION  THROUGH  C.D. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PLAN    AND   SECTIONS    OF   A   CAVATE   LODGE 
227 


228  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

the  smoke,  and  outside  the  chimney  is  built  up  about  three  feet, 
sometimes  with  stones,  but  more  frequently  with  large  earthen 
pots  with  the  bottoms  knocked  out.  The  hood  is  formed  of  sticks 
plastered  with  adobe  mortar.  Doorways  were  formerly  of  the 
notched  variety  1  closed  by  a  curtain,  and  the  hatchways  were 
closed  by  a  mat  of  reeds.  In  later  times  the  doorways  have  be 
come  like  our  own,  and  doors,  too,  have  been  made  out  of  sawed 
boards.  My  door  at  Tewa  was  hung  on  hinges  and  had  a  latch 

and  string.  Glazed  windows  have 
also  been  adopted  in  many  houses. 
The  Rio  Grande  pueblos  are  built 
of  adobe  bricks,  and  so,  largely,  is 
Zuni,  but  there  is  little  adobe  in  the 
Moki  towns,  except  in  the  form  of 
plaster  and  mortar.  The  Rio 
Grande  pueblos  were  largely  con 
structed  of  adobe  when  first  visited 
in  1540.  The  Pueblo  Amerind  fre 
quently  abandoned  his  village  for 
one  cause  or  another  and  built  a 

IJ.  b.  r>u.   r.th. 

DIAGRAM  SHOWING  POCKET  AT  BACK     nGW  OIie  elsewhere,    SO  while  his  vil- 

OF  SOME  CAVATE  LODGES  lage  niay  be  called  a  permanent  one 

It  was  probably  a  receptacle  for  water  it  WaS  IlOt  much  more  SO  tliail  vil- 
which  dripped  slowly  from  the  rock  in  wet  1  r  ,  »  .  .  ,  T 

seasons  lages  of   the  Algonquins   and  Iro- 

quois. 

Besides  houses,  some  of  the  Amerinds  of  the  South-west  dwelt 
in  shelters  excavated  wholly  or  in  part  in  the  face  of  a  cliff  or 
mountain,  or  hill.  There  are  four  localities  where  these  cavate 
lodges  occur  in  numbers,  the  northern  Rio  Grande  valley,  the  San 
Juan  River  valley,  the  San  Francisco  mountain  region,  and  the  Rio 
Verde  valley  in  Arizona.  There  are  in  these  places  thousands  of 
cavate  lodges.  They  average  in  size  two  or  three  rooms,  some 
times  communicating  by  a  ledge,  sometimes,  often,  in  fact,  with 
excavated  connections.  Some  of  the  Verde  group  2  are  cut  back  a 
long  distance  into  the  rock  —  forty  or  fifty  feet.  The  rooms  are 
both  oblong  and  circular,  about  seven  feet  high  and  ten  by  seven 
teen  feet  in  size, or  eight  or  ten  feet  diameter, according  to  the  shape. 

1  See  Macnrillan's  Dictionary  rf 'Architecture. 

2  See  paper  by  Cosmos  Mindeleff,  "Aboriginal  Remains  of  the  Verde 
Valley,"  Thirteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 


Shelters,    Dwellings,   and  Architecture         229 

There  were  no  chimneys,  the  fire-pits  being  near  the  entrances. 
Nor  were  there  any  windows,  the  doorway  being  the  only  opening 
to  the  outside.  Floors  were  levelled  by  filling  depressions  with 
adobe  clay  and  low  ridges  were  built  up  of  the  same  material,  prob 
ably  to  keep  the  inmates  off  the  bottom,  which  must  have  some 
times  been  damp.  Poles  or  willows  laid  across  the  ridges  with 
skins  on  them  would  have  made  a  flooring.  Depressions  at  the 
back  walls  appear  to  have  been  made  to  hold  water,  and  doubtless 
at  times  there  was  a  "  seepage  "  of  considerable  amount,  as  I  have 
suggested  regarding  the  open  conchoidal  caves  occupied  by  the 
Cliff-dwellers.  What  appear  to  be  stepping-stones  are  found  in 
some  entrances,  as  if  water  at  times  flowed  out.  The  Verde  group 
are  in  a  soft  grey  sandstone,  the  Rio  Grande  in  tufa,  the  San  Fran 
cisco  in  cinder  hills.  These  cavate  dwellings  are  simply  another 
form  of  Amerind  residence  due  to  necessity  or  expedience.1  In 
other  places  there  are  some  that  were  undoubtedly  merely  farming 
outlooks,  occupied  only  during  the  crop  season,  just  as  there  are 
cliff  houses  for  this  purpose,  and  also  houses  erected  singly  in  open 
valleys.  But  many  cavate  lodges  were  actual  residences  for  a 
period  of  years,  owing  to  circumstances  of  one  kind  or  another. 
The  Cliff-dwellers  may  still  be  found  among  the  Tarahumaris  of 
northern  Mexico.  Schwatka  describes  some  who  "  had  walled 
up  the  outward  face  of  a  cave  nearly  to  the  top,  leaving  the  latter 
for  ventilation."  Many  small  cliff-dwellings  in  other  places  were 
so  made  to  allow  the  smoke  to  escape.  That  is,  the  wall  along  the 
outer  edge  of  the  cavity  was  not  carried  quite  up  to  the  rock  above, 
so  that  the  smoke  could  drift  out.  There  was,  therefore,  no  roof 
over  the  dwelling,  but  it  was  sheltered  by  the  overhanging  rock. 
Many  more  examples  of  this  adaptation  of  the  dwelling  to  circum 
stances  might  be  added. 

There  are  ruins  scattered  all  over  the  South-west,  many  of 
which  were  built  by  the  same  set  of  Amerinds,  and  do  not  repre 
sent  a  vanished  population.  Still,  I  believe  that  the  population 
was  at  one  time  much  greater  than  it  was  when  our  acquaintance 
with  it  began.  Internecine  wars  resulting  from  a  diminution  of 
water-supply  ;  diseases  introduced  by  the  whites  ;  and  also  the 
attacks  and  absorption  of  tribes  by  the  wilder  Amerinds,  being 
some  of  the  causes  of  the  diminution.  It  would  riot  be  possible  to 
describe  even  all  the  prominent  ruins  here,  but  I  will  mention 
1  See  illustrations,  pp.  225,  227,  228. 


230  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

several.  Beginning  easterly  of  the  Rio  Grande,  we  find  the  Pecos 
Ruins  first  of  importance.  There  are  also  remains  of  a  large  adobe 
Catholic  church  and  a  convent  here,  not  finally  and  fully  aban 
doned  till  about  1840.  The  ruins  consist  of  two  chief  buildings  on 
a  low  table,  surrounded  by  an  artificial  wall.  The  buildings  were 
in  the  form  of  rectangles,  with  courts  within,  one  55  by  440  feet, 
and  the  other  170  by  350  feet.  In  places,  they  were  three  or  four 


Field  Columbian  Museum 


W.  H.  Holmes 


THEORETIC   ROOF    CONSTRUCTION    OF    MITLA 


stories  high,  terraced,  Pueblo  fashion.  The  construction  was 
slightly  different  from  the  ordinary,  as  the  upper  floor  and  roof 
beams  rested  mainly  on  heavy  upright  posts  set  into  the  walls, 
and  not  directly  on  the  walls  themselves.  The  whole  framework 
was  thus  independent  of  the  enclosing  walls,  very  much  as  our 
modern  steel  frame  buildings  are.  The  walls  were  of  sandstone 
slabs,  and  were  from  one  to  two  feet  thick.  Another  group  of  im 
portant  ruins,  and  about  the  finest  specimens  of  the  stone  buildings 
of  the  ancient  Pueblos,  is  that  of  the  Chaco,  in  north-western  New 
Mexico.1  There  are  eleven  chief  ruins,  and  many  smaller  ones. 
The  principal  ruins  were  once  houses  three,  four,  or  perhaps  five 
stories  high,  all  built  of  sandstone  slabs  and  blocks  obtained  from 
1  See  the  writings  of  Geo.  H.  Pepper,  director  of  the  Hyde  Expedition. 


CEILING    OR    ROOF    PLAN 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

GROUND    PLAN    OF    A    KIVA    AND    CEILING    PLAN    OF    ANOTHER 

The  entrance  is  by  ladder  through  the  hole  in  the  ceiling,  which  is  also  the  smoke  outlet.  The 
floor  is  paved  with  slabs  of  stone,  and  is  about  12  inches  higher  at  the  right-hand  end.  There 
are  places  on  each  side  for  the  looms,  blankets  being  woven  in  the  kivas.  The  fireplace  is  the 
black  square.  At  the  left  is  the  plank  containing  the  sacred  orifice  called  the  sipapu.  The 
foot  of  the  ladder  rests  on  the  edge  of  the  raised  portion  of  the  floor 


231 


232 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


the  debris  of  the  cliffs.  Some  of  the  walls  are  still  standing  to  the 
height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet.  All  are  not  uniform  in  the  way  the 
stones  are  laid,  the  variation  being  due  to  building  at  different 
times,  and  to  a  variation  of  the  available  supply  of  slabs.  The 
stones  were  usually  laid  so  closely,  and  so  carefully  chinked  with 
spalls,  that  the  outside  of  the  walls  resembles  a  smooth  mosaic  ; 
though  adobe  mortar  and  rubble  were  freely  used  in  the  interior. 

i  2  3 


L...  1 


J  *  1      T 


CHACO    RUINS    MASONRY 
From  Report  of  Hayden  Expedition  ;  2  and  3  not  found  in  modern  Pueblo  architecture 

L,intels,  as  was  generally  the  case  throughout  America^  were  of 
wood.  The  date  of  the  abandonment  of  these  buildings  is  not 
known.  They  were  first  mentioned  by  Gregg,  in  1844.' 

There  were  many  round  towers  of 
stone  in  the  South-west,  also  the  work 
of  the  Pueblos.  Some  stand  alone  but 
most  of  them  are  near  other  ruins. 
Often  they  were  built  with  two  or  three 
concentric  walls  from  two  to  five  feet 
apart.  A  double-walled  tower  on  the 
Mancos  had  an  outer  diameter  of  forty- 
three  feet.  Some  of  them  may  have 
been  watch-towers,  but  those  connected 


itaa* 


From  Hayden  Report 


with  other  buildings  were  perhaps  religious  structures,  or  were 
used  somewhat  as  the  kiva  2  is  to-day.     The  kiva  is  a  room  now 

1  Commerce  of  the  Prairies. 

*  See  Macmillan's  Dictionary  of  Architecture.  Kiva  is  a  Moki  term  to 
replace  the  Spanish  estufa,  which  is  misleading.  The  kiva  is  not  a  sweat 
house,  as  the  Spanish  term  seems  to  imply.  A  sweat  house  or  lodge  is  ex 
pressly  built  and  heated  for  the  purpose  of  a  sweat  bath. 


1fc 


I    g 


>f. 

\ 


I 


'*    '-  •/    ^ 


'**: 


234  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

usually  square,  in  part,  or  wholly,  below  the  general  surface  of  the 
locality,  used  as  a  kind  of  club-house,  council-house,  lounging 
place,  and  meeting  place  for  members  of  the  society  to  which  it 
belongs  ;  and  also  a  lodging  place  for  the  men  ;  women  are  gen 
erally  excluded.  In  Zufii,  the  kivas  are  rooms  on  the  ground 
floor.  Many  ancient  kivas  were  round. 

Adobe  brick  and  adobe  clay  in  various  forms  were  largely 
employed  by  the  South-western  and  Mexican  Amerinds,  and  there 
are  evidences  that  some  tribes  in  the  Mississippi  valley  also  used 
it.  In  the  Rio  Grande  valley  the  adobe  is  made  into  large  bricks, 
sun-dried  and  laid  up  with  a  mortar  of  the  same  material.  Other 
wise  the  villages  are  much  the  same  as  those  described.  One  of 
the  best  modern  examples  of  the  adobe  construction  is  the  village 
of  Taos  in  north-eastern  New  Mexico.  (See  illustration  page  3.) 
Another  method  of  employing  adobe  is  seen  in  the  famous 
ruin  called  Casa  Grande,  near  Florence,  Arizona,  which  our 
government  recently  repaired  so  that  it  will  endure  for  a  con 
siderable  time.  This  was  made  by  the  cajon  method  ;  that  is, 
the  adobe  mud  was  rammed  into  large  chests  or  boxes  of 
wicker,  without  top  or  bottom,  and  when  the  material  was 
sufficiently  dried  to  hold  its  shape  the  frame  was  removed  and 
the  operation  repeated  till  the  wall  was  finished.  The  ruin 
referred  to  is  ony  one  of  a  number  that  were  still  standing  in 
an  area  of  about  sixty-five  acres  in  1744,  when  Father  Sedelmair 
saw  them.  He  described  the  present  ruin  as  having  four  stories, 
but  only  three  are  now  distinguishable  at  the  highest  part.  Its 
age  is  unknown.  Its  builders  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  an 
cestors  of  the  present  Pimas,  though  probably  there  was  consider 
able  difference  in  the  matter  of  culture.  Father  Kino,  in  1694,  was 
the  first  European  to  see  the  place  and  it  was  a  ruin  then.  It  was 
doubtless  a  communal  dwelling  like  all  the  other  large  structures 
of  the  Amerinds  of  this  region.  Its  size  on  the  ground  is  forty- 
three  by  fifty-nine  feet.  Partitions  three  or  four  feet  thick  divide 
the  interior  into  five  rooms,  the  middle  one  having  higher  walls 
than  the  rest.  The  adobe  blocks  are  two  feet  high,  three  to  five 
long,  and  three  or  four  across,  and  are  almost  as  hard  as  sandstone 
while  dry.  There  may  have  been  upper  stories  of  plastered  wat 
tled  posts.  Another  famous  ruin  similar  to  this  is  the  Casas 
Grandes  in  Chihuahua,  Mexico.  It  is  built  in  much  the  same  way 
as  Casa  Grande,  and  there  are  more  buildings  there  standing. 


Field  Columbian  Museum 


W.  H.  Holmes 


TRANSVERSE    SECTION    OF    AN    ORDINARY    YUCATEC    BUILDING 
,  capstones  of  corbel  vault ;  /,  roof  crest  or  comb.     Such  a  building  stood  on  the  top  of  a  mound 


235 


236  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Probably  there  were  at  one  time  a  great  many  structures  of  this 
kind  in  that  region,  and  there  may  be  others  still  standing  in  less 
explored  parts.  In  the  Salt  River  valley  many  of  the  buildings 
were  of  a  somewhat  different  type  again,  as  concerns  their  wall 
construction.1  The  Hemenway  Expedition  excavated  a  great 
many  sites  and  found  that  the  walls  were  often  adobe  rammed  in 
between  two  series  of  posts  wattled  with  reeds  and  cross-braced 
with  sticks,  the  outer  part  of  the  wattled  frames  being  plastered 
with  adobe  mortar.  The  thinner  walls  were  constructed  with  only 
one  line  of  wattled  posts  plastered  on  both  sides,  after  the  manner 
of  the  Mexican  construction  known  as  jacal,  which  is  a  set  of 
poles  fixed  in  the  ground  and  then  plastered  on  one  or  both  sides 
with  mud.  The  upper  stories  of  some  of  the  Rio  Grande  struc 
tures  in  the  early  times  were  made  of  wood  probably  plastered  this 
way,  which  explains  why  in  the  southern  part  of  New  Mexico 
there  are  not  now  found  higher  standing  walls  of  ruins  or  evidences 
of  several  stories.2  Examples  also  have  been  seen  in  South-western 
Colorado,  where  a  kind  of  wicker-work  was  built  on  the  top  of  a 
wall  and  plastered  on  both  sides.  In  the  Salt  River  ruins  the  ex 
istence  of  the  wood-work  was  indicated  by  the  cavities  left  by  its 
decay.  There  were  also  other  structures  built  without  the  wattled 
frames.  The  cajon  and  pise  construction  are  very  much  alike, 
one  being  a  Spanish  and  the  other  a  French  term,  except  that  any 
pounded  or  rammed  earth  construction  might  be  pise,  while  the 
cajon  is  distinctly  made  by  ramming  earth  into  a  box.3  There 
fore  the  Casa  Grande  would  be  a  clear  example  of  cajon,  while 
the  Salt  River  construction  of  adobe  rammed  between  the  wattled 
frames  would  be  pise  ;  and  the  plastered  wicker-work  would  be 
jacal.  The  pise  and  cajon  method  is  very  old  all  over  the  world. 
It  is  still  to  be  found  in  France  and  England.  In  France  the  pise 
box  is  about  three  yards  long,  one  yard  high,  and  about  half  a 
yard  wide.  The  readiness  with  which  the  Amerind  took  advan 
tage  of  his  resources  in  the  architectural  line  is  again  apparent  in 

1  See  Mem.  Nat.  A  cad.  Sciences,  vii.,  p.  146.     Introduction  by  Washing 
ton  Matthews. 

2  ''And  have  five  or  six  stories,  three  of  them  with  mud  walls  and  two 
or  three  with  thin  wooden  walls."—"  Relacion  del  Suceso,"  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rcpt.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  575. 

3Littre  gives  pise  as  "made  with  a  species  of  large  bricks  made  in 
wooden  moulds";  piser,  "to  construct  by  beating  earth  between  two 
planks." 


y       v 

1 

7                          V 

\ 

j 

e 

Field  Columbian  Museum 

FORMS    OF   THE   MAYA   CORBEL   VAULT 


W.  H.  Holmes 


237 


238  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

these  great  adobe  structures  of  the  Amerinds  of  northern  Mexico 
and  the  South-western  United  States.  It  is  not  sensible,  there 
fore,  when  some  style  of  construction  is  discovered  differing  from 
that  which  we  have  been  accustomed  to  see,  to  ascribe  it  to  some 
mysterious  race. 

In  southern  Mexico  they  erected  extensive  cities  or  pueblos  be 
cause  there  they  were  more  crowded  together  than  anywhere  to  the 
northward,  but  these  cities  were  essentially  the  same  as  the  more 
simple  towns  in  the  northern  country.  At  Tlascala  "  the  houses 
were  built,  for  the  most  part,  of  mud  or  earth  ;  the  better  sort  of 
stone  and  lime,  or  bricks  dried  in  the  sun.  They  were  unpro 
vided  with  doors  or  windows,  but  in  the  apertures  for  the  former 
hung  mats  fringed  with  pieces  of  copper,  or  something  which  by 
its  tinkling  sound  would  give  notice  of  anyone's  entrance.  The 
streets  were  narrow  and  dark."  1  This  extract  from  Prescott 
might  picture  a  New  Mexican  pueblo  instead  of  one  of  the  towns 
encountered  by  Cortez  which  have  been  often  so  romantically  de 
scribed.  The  copper  on  the  mats  was  probably  more  for  Amerind 
ornament  than  for  the  purpose  stated  by  Prescott.  While  in  some 
respects  the  Aztec  towns  may  have  been  more  elaborate  than  the 
New  Mexican  towns,  there  was  probably  not  much  difference  in 
their  method  of  construction.  "  The  principal  buildings  and 
temples  of  the  city  were  covered  with  a  hard  white  stucco  which 
glistened  like  enamel  in  the  .  .  .  morning  sun."  2  This  was 


F3  F 


Field  Columbian  Museum  W.  H.  Holmes 

GROUND    PLANS    OF    YUCATEC    BUILDINGS 

Tablets  at  x 

perhaps  a  wash  of  gypsiferous  clay  similar  to  that  used  by  the 
Mokis,  or  it  may  have  been  similar  to  the  zahcab  of  the  Mayas, 
which  was  a  singular  and  abundant  white  earth  used  by  them  as 
a  stucco.  It  was  found  in  pockets. 

"  The  dwellings  of  the  common  people  were  also  placed  on 

foundations  of  stone  which  rose  to  the  height  of  a  few  feet,  and  were 

then  succeeded  by  courses  of  unbaked  bricks,  crossed  occasionally 

by  wooden  rafters.  '  '  3    These  rafters  were  the  projecting  ends  of  the 

1  Prescott,  Mexico,  i.,  p.  474.         2  Ibid.,  ii.,  p.  70.         3  Ibid.,  ii.,  p.  no. 


240  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

poles,  as  in  the  Pueblo  country.  The  adobe  houses  in  Mexico  are 
now  often  built  on  stone  foundations,  for  it  is  the  foundation  that 
is  sapped  and  undermined  by  the  rains.  The  upper  walls  of  adobe 
stand  well  in  a  climate  of  that  sort.  Prescott  says  of  the  houses 
of  the  "  dignitaries  "  and  of  the  "  principal  nobles  "  that  "  They 
were  low,  indeed;  seldom  of  more  than  one  floor,  never  exceeding 
two.  But  they  were  spread  over  a  wide  extent  of  ground  ;  were 
arranged  in  a  quadrangular  form,  with  a  court  in  the  centre,"  l  all 
of  which  sounds  suspiciously  like  a  communal  dwelling,  as  Morgan 
maintains  the  Aztec  houses  were.  The  Aztecs  were  crowded 
around  the  lake  of  Mexico,  and  also  built  out  over  the  water  on 
piles.  Houses  raised  above  the  water  or  ground  were  nothing 
unusual  in  America.  Some  of  the  North-west  coast  Amerinds 
built  dwellings  which  were  "  raised  and  supported  near  thirty  feet 
from  the  ground  by  perpendicular  spars  of  very  large  size  "  with 
"  access  formed  by  a  long  tree  in  an  inclined  position  from  the 
platform  to  the  ground,  with  notches  cut  in  it  by  way  of  steps 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  asunder."  2 

So  far  as  the  Aztec  houses  are  concerned,  "  None  of  the  Span 
ish  descriptions,"  asserts  Morgan,  "  enable  us  to  realise  the  exact 
form  and  structure.  .  .  .  But  for  the  pueblos,  occupied  or  in 
ruins,  in  New  Mexico,  and  the  more  remarkable  pueblos  in  ruins 
in  Yucatan  and  Central  America,  we  would  know  very  little  con 
cerning  the  house  architecture  of  the  Sedentary  Village  Indians."  3 

Morgan  believes  all  were  joint  tenements,  but  in  this  he  may 
be  mistaken,  for  the  life  of  the  Aztecs  seems  to  have  passed  to  a 
point  somewhat  higher  than  that  of  the  New  Mexican  Amerinds, 
and  a  further  development  of  Aztec  life  certainly  included  a 
further  development  of  their  house-life  also. 

Within  a  day's  journey  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  Saville  investi 
gated  some  interesting  ruins  of  an  old  "  temple  "  erected,  according 
to  a  tablet  found  there,  in  1502,  the  signs  on  the  tablet  represent 
ing  a  rabbit  and  ten  dots,  or  ten  tochtli,  corresponding  to  this 
date.  It  was  built  of  rubble  stone  covered  in  many  places  inside 
with  stone  carving  that  had  been  painted.4  There  were  also 

1  Prescott,  Mexico,  ii.,  p.  109. 

2  Voyages  of  Vancouver,  ii.,  p.  274. 

3  Morgan,  House  Life,  p.  231. 

4  M.    H.   Saville,    "Temple   of  Tepoztlau,"   Monumental  Records,   i., 
No.  i. 


242  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

ornaments  in  stucco.  The  outer  walls  are  nearly  six  feet  thick. 
It  is  on  the  top  of  a  high,  cliff-like  mountain  difficult  of  access, 
near  the  Mexican  town  of  Tepoztlan.  Another  splendid  ruin  near 
this  is  the  Temple  of  Xochicalco.  See  illustrations,  pages  23  and 

31- 

The  greatest  group  of  architectural  remains  on  this  continent 

is  that  of  the  Maya  region,  mainly  in  Yucatan.  For  a  full  de 
scription  of  many  of  these  buildings  the  reader  is  referred  again 
to  the  admirable  work  of  Maudsley.  The  Mayas  were  the  greatest 
architects  as  well  as  the  greatest  artists  and  greatest  in  almost 
everything  of  all  the  Amerinds,  and  if  Goodman  is  correct  in  his 
rendering  of  some  of  their  chronology  they  occupied  the  region 
more  than  ten  thousand  years.1  Mound-like  foundations  sup 
ported  the  buildings,  which  generally  rose  as  from  a  terrace, 
though  sometimes  the  mound  was  very  high  and  very  steep,  with 
small  space  around  the  building  crowning  it.  At  Copan,2  which 
was  in  ruins  before  the  Spaniards  arrived,  there  is  a  great  main 
terrace  from  which  mounds  rise,  the  latter  bearing  the  buildings. 
The  casing  of  the  mound  and  the  walls  of  buildings  are  of  nicely 
dressed  oblong  stones  usually  without  mortar.  The  joints  were 
not  broken  here,  nor  in  other  Maya  work.  The  mound  slopes 
were  terraced  at  five-foot  intervals  and  the  steps  were  about  five 
feet  high.  The  so-called  "triangular  arch"  probably  existed 
here  as  it  did  at  the  other  Maya  ruins.  It  was  made  by  advanc 
ing  the  courses,  several  feet  above  the  base  of  an  opening,  gradu 
ally  toward  each  other  till  they  met  above,  where  a  large  slab  was 
usually  laid  across  to  bind  the  whole  together.  The  ceilings  or 
roofs  of  many  rooms  in  Maya  ruins  were  wholly  made  this  way. 
It  has  also  been  called  a  corbel  arch,  though  it  is,  in  fact,  not  an 
arch  at  all.  See  illustrations,  pages  210,  235,  and  237.  There 
was  no  arch  in  Amerindian  architecture  besides  the  one  the 
Eskimo  constructed  in  his  snow  hut.  The  rooms  are  generally 
long  and  narrow  in  all  the  Maya  structures  and  no  windows 
existed.  The  Maya  inability  to  span  wide  spaces  was  the  cause 

1  Goodman  in  Biologia  Centrali  Americana.    From  an  inscription  on 
the  back  of  the  "  Yucatec  Stone"  10.731  years  back  to  the  date  of  an  action 
represented  on  the  front  of  the  stone  from  1895. 

2  Cyrus  Thomas  (American  Anthropologist,  July,   1899)  says:    "Here 
we  see  the  culmination  of  Mayan  art."     There  are  several  terraces,  but  one 
is  so  large  as  to  eclipse  the  others. 


244  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  the  narrow  rooms  and  buildings.  At  Uxmal  the  two  main 
rooms  of  the  so-called  Governor's  Palace  are  sixty  feet  long 
and  only  eleven  to  thirteen  feet  wide.  The  walls  of  all  the  struct 
ures  are  very  thick,  though  certain  walls,  as  the  rear  ones,  are 
usually  thicker  than  the  others  and  have  no  openings,  the  latter, 
as  a  rule,  being  along  one,  two,  or  three  sides.  This  was  a  prob 
able  survival  of  earlier  defensive  constructions  similar  to  the 
communal  fortresses  of  the  Puebloan  type  as  particularly  exem 
plified  in  the  ruins  of  the  Chaco  in  New  Mexico,  where  there 
were  no  rear  openings.  See  ground  plans,  page  232.  At  Palen- 
que  are  some  fine  examples  of  the  Maya  construction.  The 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


ELEVATION    OF    KWAKIUTL    HOUSE 


largest  is  called  the  palace  and  is  180  feet  wide,  228  feet  long, 
and  25  feet  high,  with  fourteen  doorways  on  the  side  and  eleven 
at  the  ends.  It  was  one  story  in  height,  as  were  all  Maya  build 
ings.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  carving  and  stucco  modelling 
around  them.  One  of  the  most  unique  constructions  is  that 
called  the  "  Temple  of  the  Cross,"  number  one,  or  two,  or  three, 
by  different  explorers,  there  being  two  structures  much  alike. 
See  note  2,  page  184.  This  is  on  top  of  a  high  mound,  and  is 
fifty  feet  front,  thirty-one  feet  deep,  and  about  forty  feet  high. 
The  roof  was  something  like  our  gambrel  type,  being  the  same 
all  around  without  gables,  with  a  level  platform  about  three 
feet  wide  along  the  ridge,  from  which  arose  a  peculiar  stone  and 
stucco,  latticed,  superstructure  in  two  stories,  the  first  about  seven 
and  the  second  about  eight  feet  high.  See  illustrations,  pages 
210  and  235.  There  was  abundant  stucco  ornamentation  over 
the  exterior,  and  on  each  side  of  the  entrance  was  one  of  the 
figures  referred  to  in  the  last  chapter. 


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246  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

The  mortar  used  is  said  to  have  been  a  cement  made  of  one 
part  slaked  lime  to  two  parts  of  zahcab.  This  was  used  by  all  the 
ancient  Mayas  and  is  used  still  in  that  country.  It  is,  however, 
doubtful  if  slaked  lime  was  known  to  the  ancients.  There  is  no 
evidence  of  it.  At  Mitla  is  yet  another  type  of  house  ascribed 
to  the  Zapotecs.1  It  is  in  the  Mexican  State  of  Oaxaca.  The 
human  figures  and  animal  carvings  and  forms  seen  in  the  Yuca 
tan  ruins  are  absent.  The  rooms  are  the  same,  long  and  narrow, 
with  no  openings  except  the  doors.  One  of  the  most  unusual 
features  is  a  great  hall  12  by  121  feet,  with  six  round  stone 
columns  standing  at  intervals  of  about  fifteen  feet  down  the  mid 
dle.  See  illustrations,  pages  9  and  209.  These  average  about 
twelve  feet  high  and  nine  feet  in  circumference.  The  walls 
are  forty-eight  inches  thick,  of  roughly  broken  stones  laid  in 
courses  in  plenty  of  adobe  mortar,  the  outer  parts  of  all  the  build 
ings  being  faced  by  slabs  of  stone  containing  the  ornamentation, 
which  is  wholly  geometrical.  Some  adobe  brick  walls  are  forty- 
six  inches  thick.  The  columns  are  out  of  the  common  because 
they  are  single  stones,  but  built  up  piers  are  often  used  in  Pueblo 
architecture,  and  the  North-west  coast  Amerinds  use  the  column 
in  wood  very  frequently  to  support  their  large  longitudinal  rafters. 
One  of  these  which  I  sketched  in  an  Alaskan  house  at  Cape  Fox 
is  given  in  the  illustration,  page  162.  The  roofs  at  Mitla  were 
wooden  beams  covered  with  earth  and  stone  slabs.  See  illustra 
tion,  page  230.  There  are  other  ruins  all  through  Honduras  and 
Nicaragua  and  the  rest  of  Central  America.  Squier  says  :  "  In 
Honduras,  as  also  in  San  Salvador,  I  heard  of  remains  and  monu 
ments  equal  to  those  of  Copan  in  extent  and  interest." 

At  the  time  the  Spaniards  came  into  Yucatan  the  Amerinds, 
according  to  Herrera,  were  dwelling  in  timber  huts  thatched  with 
grass  or  something  similar.  The  dense  unexplored  forests  of  the 
Yucatan  region  are  filled  with  ruins  which  have  never  been  seen 
by  white  men,  at  least  that  is  the  supposition  of  archaeologists  like 
Saville  and  Charnay.  The  Maya  house  was  divided,  according 
to  Luanda,  from  side  to  side  by  a  wall  with  doors,  the  back  part 
being  sleeping  quarters.  The  front  portion  was  whitewashed  or 
painted  in  designs  and  was  open  the  whole  length,  with  low 

1  Viollet-le-Duc  thinks  these  buildings  and  the  Maya  ones  originated  in 
wooden  structures.  For  details  of  construction,  see  Bandelier's  Archczo- 
logical  Tour  in  Mexico. 


Shelters,   Dwellings,   and  Architecture          247 

sheltering  eaves.  In  the  rear  there  was  a  doorway  leading  from 
that  part.  A  lengthwise  division  into  two  main  parts  was  a  char 
acteristic  of  almost  all  the  Maya  buildings  now  found  in  ruins. 
The  structures  were  generally  wide  and  shallow,  and  subdivided 
into  a  great  many  rooms.  It  is  more  in  the  ornamentation  of  the 
.buildings  and  the  stone  roofs  than  in  anything  else  that  they  differ 
from  structures  farther  north.  The  interior  masonry  is  frequently  a 
rubble,  with  the  dressed  and  carved  stones  on  the  outside  as  a  fac 
ing.  Bandelier  thinks  that  some  of  the  stone  walls  in  New  Mexico 
are  quite  as  well  constructed  as  some  in  Mexico  proper.  But  how 
ever  this  may  be,  there  is  nothing  north  of  the  City  of  Mexico  that 
compares  in  architectural  excellence  with  the  Yucatan  structures, 
albeit  in  some  respects  there  is  a  strong  resemblance  between  the  lat 
ter  in  plan  and  conception,  and  the  Pecos  and  other  northern  ruins. 

The  communal  principle  of  living  had  much  to  do  almost  every 
where  with  the  size  and  character  of  the  Amerind  houses.  Situa 
tion  was  determined  by  expedience  and  necessity  ;  material  of 
construction  by  environment.  Throughout  the  continent  the 
Amerind  was  a  village  dweller,  and  except  in  the  Far  North  and 
on  the  northern  Californian  and  North-west  coasts  he  was  gen 
erally  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  growing,  often  in  large  quantities,  maize, 
beans,  squashes,  cotton,  and  some  other  products  according  to 
locality.  His  large  communal  buildings  were  in  part  fortresses  to 
protect  the  families  against  marauding  Amerinds  of  a  less  prosper 
ous  and  cultivated  type,  and  against  the  occupants  of  other  towns, 
for  in  general  it  may  be  said  that  there  was  little  political  cohesion 
in  the  various  tribes,  though  the  Aztecs  and  Iroquois  are  examples 
of  exceptions  that  arose  from  time  to  time. 

There  is  nothing  in  any  of  the  remains,  so  far  developed,  that 
indicates  foreign  influence,  prior  to  the  Discovery.  Every  archi 
tectural  work  on  the  continent  is  purely  Amerindian  or  modified 
by  contact  with  other  races  subsequent  to  1492. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


ESKIMO    HORN    DIPPER 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

HORN    ARROW    STRAIGHTENER, 


CHAPTER  IX 


WEAPONS,    ARMOUR,    IMPLEMENTS,    AND   TRANSPORTATION 

THE  Amerinds  were  practically  all  in  the  so-called  Stone  Age  of 
culture  ;  that  is,  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  common 
use  of  metals.    Some  tribes  worked  silver,  gold,  and  copper, 
to  a  limited  extent  and  in  an  ornamental  way,  and  a  high  authority 
asserts  that  the  Eskimo  have  known  iron  for  nine  hundred  years. 
Those  Eskimo  who  came  in  contact  with  the  Northmen  on  the 
North-east  coasts  very  likely  saw  specimens  of  manufactured  iron, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

War  Arrow  War  Arrow  Hunting  Arrow 

MODERN    IRON    ARROW-HEADS    OF   THE    OMAHAS 

and  possessed  some,  nearly  a  thousand  years  ago,  but  it  was  a 
bare  acquaintance,  and  this  and  the  limited  working  of  the  other 
metals  do  not  affect  the  general  statement  that  the  Amerinds  were 
practically  a  Stone- Age  people.  Even  the  Maya,  with  all  their 
varied  skill  and  knowledge  superior  to  any  other  Amerinds,  still 
used  stone  tools  for  carving  in  stone.  They  had  no  way  of  suffi 
ciently  hardening  the  metals  they  could  secure  and  their  stone 

248 


Weapons,   Armour,   Implements,   Transportation    249 

tools  were  far  more  serviceable.  So  the  tools,  weapons,  and  im 
plements  throughout  the  continent  were  chiefly  wood,  bone,  and 
stone,  with  a  few  exceptions  in  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the 
Mississippi  valley.  In  the  last  region  there  was  some  working 
of  copper  obtained  from  the  rich  deposits  of  native  metal  in 
northern  Michigan,1  but  the  main  thing  they  could  do  with  it  was 
to  beat  and  grind  it  into  shape  with  stones.  Arrow-heads,  spear 
heads,  chisels,  and  knife-blades  of  copper  have  been  found  in  the 
Mississippi  and  Atlantic  regions,  but  there  is  no  certainty  that  all 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


FORMS    OF    THE    BOW 


of  them  were  made  by  the  Amerinds.3  The  Spaniards  and  other 
Europeans  were  speedily  engaged  in  a  considerable  traffic  with  the 
Amerinds  in  which  copper  was  an  important  medium  of  exchange. 
Large  quantities  were  therefore  early  brought  into  the  country  from 
Europe,  and  we  do  not  always  know  in  what  form.  It  is  certain 
that  the  traders  would  try  to  give  it  the  most  attractive  shape, 
and  if  arrow-heads  were  found  to  be  good,  it  would  not  take  long 
to  manufacture  them.  This  is  not  to  say  that  the  Amerind  could 
not  have  made  the  implements  or  copper  articles  thus  far  found, 
but  only  to  question  whether  he  did  make  all  of  them. 

The  chief  weapon  of  all  Amerinds  was  the  bow  and  arrow.3 
The  bow  was  made  in  a  number  of  ways  and  of  various  kinds  of 
wood,  and  of  horn,  reinforced  as  a  rule  by  a  backing  of  sinew. 
The  arrow-shaft  was  most  frequently  of  service-berry  wood  when 
it  could  be  had,  and  also  of  reed  with  a  tip  of  some  solid  wood. 
The  heads  were  of  chipped  stone,  or  bone,  or  latterly  of  bottle- 

1  For  mining  operations  see  Chap.  X. 

9  The  Lenape  had  arrow-heads  and  pipes  made  of  copper.  See  Abbott's 
Primitive  Industry. 

3  The  Amerind  muscles  that  came  into  play  in  bow  shooting  were  so 
highly  developed  that  a  white  man  untrained  could  not  half  pull  a  bow  that 
a  generally  weaker  Amerind  could  pull  with  ease. 


250  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


glass,  or  often,  for  small-bird  shooting,  without  any  head  whatever. 

A  few  heads  were  of  copper,  and  in  modern  times  hoop  iron  is 

used.  Amongst  all  the  Amerind 
bows  that  I  have  ever  seen,  one  made 
from  the  horns  of  a  mountain  sheep, 
with  a  portion  of  the  skull  as  the 
central  part,  was  the  finest  and  most 
graceful.  It  was  exactly  the  shape 
of  the  typical  bow  wielded  by  the 
little  god  Cupid,  and  I  have  always 
regretted  that  I  did  not  purchase  it 
at  the  time,  for  I  have  never  seen  one 
since.  I  saw  it  in  southern  Utah  in 

1875-' 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  the 

bow  and  arrow  were  a  development 
from  the  primitive  fire-drill,  through 
the  bow-drill  and  spear.  Some  day  by 
accident  or  design  perhaps  the  drill 
stick  sprung  from  the  tightened  string, 
the  idea  of  substituting  the  spear  for 
the  drill  stick  was  suggested,  and  the 
greatest  invention  in  its  effect  on  hu 
manity  man  has  yet  seen  was  born. 

There  are  three  or  four  forms  of 
fire-drill,  but  the  palm-drill  —  that  is, 
the  kind  that  was  rotated  between  the 
palms  of  the  hands  —  was  the  earliest, 
most  widespread,  and  most  compact 
and  portable  of  all.  It  consisted  of  a 
shaft  of  wood,  or  reed  with  a  piece  of 
some  harder  wood  attached  to  it  ;  or, 
where  the  hard  wood  was  not  long 
enough,  it  was  spliced  on  to  another  piece  of  wood.  The  illus 
tration  above  shows  a  drill  and  hearth  I  obtained  from  the 
Pai  Utes  of  Arizona  in  1875.  These  Amerinds  were  using  such 

1  Hoffman  (Fourteenth  Ann.  Rcpt.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  281)  describes  similar 
bows  found  in  Arizona  and  Nevada,  three  feet  long,  but  made  of  wood  in  a 
composite  way. 


PAI    UTE   PALM-DRILL 

Drawn  by  the  author  from  a  specimen 

obtained  by  him   in  Arizona,    1875. 

Lower  part  of  shaft  of  greasewood 

about  5  in.  long  and  %  in.  diameter. 

Heanh  of  cedar  (juniper).   Upper 
part  of  drill  shaft  is  omitted. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

THE    PALM-DRILL  (FIRE-MAKING) 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

THE    PUMP-DRILL   (FIRE-MAKING 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    STRING-DRILL.       l/e 
(FOR    FIRE-MAKING   WITH    MOUTHPIECE) 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PUEBLO  PUMP-DRILL.     1/5 
(FOR  BORING) 


DRILL-POINT    OF    CHIPPED    FLINT 


251 


252  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

drills  for  fire-making  at  that  time.  The  other  portion  of  the  ap 
paratus,  the  hearth,  is  made  of  cedar,  or  any  soft  and  suitable 
wood.  It  has  cavities  cut  into  it  to  receive  the  rounded,  blunt 
end  of  the  shaft,  and  on  the  sides  of  these  cavities  a  little  notch  is 
cut  to  allow  the  air  to  get  at  the  superheated  wood  dust  and  to 
permit  the  dust  to  be  quickly  thrust  into  the  tinder  which  is 
placed  beside  and  beneath  the  hearth.  This  hearth,  which  is  an 
inch  or  so  in  width  and  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  is  held 
securely  down  by  the  foot  or  knee,  and  the  drill  stick  rapidly  re 
volved  back  and  forth  in  an  upright  position,  with  the  lower  end 
in  one  of  the  cavities.  The  revolving  motion  is  secured  b}r  the 
palms  of  the  hands,  which  are  allowed  to  slide  down  the  shaft  to 
gain  downward  pressure,  each  time  being  brought  quickly  back 
to  the  top  for  a  repetition  of  the  motion,  so  that  it  is  practically 
continuous.  A  pinch  of  sand  is  sometimes  added  to  increase  the 
friction  and  create  dust  more  speedily.  The  superheated  dust,  or 
spark,  is  skilfully  flung  into  the  tinder  of  moss  or  rubbed-up  bark 
and  a  few  puffs  of  breath  bring  a  flame.  All  the  materials  are 
kept  very  dry,  and  an  expert  will  secure  a  fire  in  a  few  seconds 
under  favourable  conditions.1  This  was  the  common  form  of  fire- 
drill  throughout  the  continent.  The  "  new-fire"  of  the  Aztecs,2 
produced  at  the  termination  of  their  fifty-two-year  cj^cle,  when  all 
fires  were  permitted  to  die  out,  was  obtained  with  a  fire-drill  simi 
lar  to  the  one  described.  Even  when  a  tribe  had  better  means  of 
obtaining  fire,  it  would  preserve  the  primitive  method  in  its  re 
ligious  ceremonies.  Before  the  invention  of  the  fire-drill  it  was 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  guard  and  preserve  the  fire  that  had 
perhaps  been  procured  from  a  great  distance  or  from  some  forest 
conflagration  which  had  passed  away.  Hence  it  assumed  a  sacred 
character,  and  those  who  were  entrusted  with  its  preservation  were 
high  priests.  Eternal  fires,  or  undying  fires,  were  the  result  at 
first  of  the  necessity  of  preserving  fire,  and  later,  when  the  friction- 
drill  was  discovered,  those  who  possessed  the  knowledge  of  it  were 
correspondingly  endowed  with  power  over  the  remainder. 

After  the  palm-drill  comes  the  string-drill,  wherein  the  drill  is 

1  Hough  says  he  has  often  made  fire  in  thirty  seconds  with  the  palm- 
drill  and   in  five  seconds  with  the  bow-drill. — National  Museum  Report, 
1888,  p.  531. 

2  See    chapter   on    Customs    for  a  quotation  from  Prescott  describing 
the  festival  of  the  new-£»e. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu.  Drill 

SET    OF    FIRE-MAKING   TOOLS,    BRISTOL    BAY    ESKJMO,    ALASKA 
Showing  stepped  hearth.     Mouthpiece  is  set  with  a  socket-bearing  of  black  stone 


253 


254  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


operated  by  means  of  a  cord  twisted  about  it,  the  ends  being 
pulled  back  and  forth,  and  the  top  of  the  stick  being  held  firm  by 
insertion  in  a  socket,  the  latter  being  grasped  in  one  hand  or, 
when  there  was  only  one  operator,  taken  in  the  mouth.  The  old 
Kskimo  drill  is  of  this  description,  produced  probably  because  the 
surroundings  compelled  swifter  and  harder  revolutions  of  the  stick 
to  obtain  the  desired  results.  A  further 
development  is  the  bow-drill,  used  by  the 
Eskimo  and  others,  where  instead  of  pulling 
the  ends  of  the  string  a  bent  piece  of  wood, 
or  bow,  is  attached 
to  them,  the  move 
ment  of  which  back 
and  forth  rotates 
the  stick.  This  is 
used  with  a  mouth 
piece  for  a  socket. 
Another  form,  but 
one  seldom  used  for 
fire-getting,  is  the 
pump-drill,  where 
the  stick  connected 

with  the  ends  of  the  cord  runs  across  the  drill 
stock,    and    sometimes    has    the    stock    passing 
through  it,  the  string  being  so  adjusted  around 
the   stock   that   an   up-and-down   motion  of  the 
crossbar   imparts    a    rotary,  reciprocating  move 
ment  to  the  stock.     This  is  the  form  used  by  the 
Pueblos  for  stone  drilling,  etc.1     The  fire-drill  en 
tered  into  the  religious  ceremonies  of  most  tribes, 
and,  conventionalised  in  the  so-called  cross  of  the 
Palenque  tablet,  which  is  a  development,  accord 
ing  to  Bandelier,  of  the  fire-drill  through  ornamentation,  it  puzzled 
the  Europeans,  causing  them  for  a  time  to  imagine  that  Christ 
ianity  had  preceded  Columbus  to  the  New  World. 

To  return  to  the  bow  again,  the  length  of  it  varies  in  different 

localities.     In  a  densely  wooded  country,  a  long  bow  would  often 

be  in  the  way,  and  this  and  other  reasons  would  make  it  shorter. 

The  average  length  is  about  forty  inches.     The  string  is  made  of 

1  The  Iroquois  rigged  large  pump-drills  out  of  saplings. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


,, 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

MODERN    ROD    ARMOUR    OF   THE   KLAMATHS,    OREGON 

le  up  of  44  oval  rods  of  pine  wood.  The  cord  is  of  native  hemp  and  cords  made  of  sisal,  the  latter  probably 
derived  from  ropes  of  white  make.  Cords  are  co'oured  red  and  yellow.  Bound  with  buckskin  painted  red  ; 
shoulder-straps  of  buckskin  ;  tying  straps  at  the  sides.  Width,  38  in.  ;  height,  21  in. 


Made 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

HUPA    ROD    ARMOUR,    CALIFORNIA 

11  Made  of  118  peeled  rods,  woven  together  with  native  twine,  bound  with  buckskin  on  upper  and  lower  edges  and 
arm-holes.  Shoulder-straps  of  leather  ;  six  horizontal  stripes  of  red  cord  cross  the  front.  The  red  lines 
denote  the  number  of  enemies  slain  or  captives  taken  ;  also  the  rank  of  the  wearer.  This  class  of  armour  was 
in  common  use  among  the  Natanps  and  Kennucks  before  the  introduction  of  firearms ;  but  it  is  now  obso 
lete,  nearly."  Width,  41  in. ;  height,  21  in. 

255 


256  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

sinew,  well  twisted  and,  at  the  ends,  braided.  Arrows  are  of  dif 
ferent  kinds  in  the  same  tribe  :  some  blunt  or  with  wood  points 
sharpened  for  bird  shooting,  or  for  other  small  animals  ;  arrows 
adapted  for  deer  ;  for  large  fowl  ;  and  others  still  for  heavy  game 
like  bison  or  bear.  The  head  of  the  game  arrow  was  set  in  the 
plane  of  the  string  —  that  is,  the  notch  was  quite  or  nearly  in  line 
with  the  head,  and,  when  adjusted  to  the  bowstring,  stood  at  a 
slight  angle,  the  bow  always  being  held  diagonally  across  the 
shooter's  body.  The  head  would  thus  strike  between  an  animal's 
ribs.  War  arrows,  on  the  other  hand,  had  their  notches  so  placed 
that  the  head  of  the  arrow  went  from  the  bow  in  a  horizontal  po 
sition,  because  the  ribs  of  a  man  lie  that  way.1  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  head  was  not  at  right  angles  to  the  notch,  for  in  that  case 
it  would  not  have  been  projected  horizontally.  The  adjustment 
of  the  notch  to  produce  the  desired  position  would  always  be  regu 
lated  by  the  habit  of  holding  the  bow.  Since  the  rifle  came  into 
use,  little  attention  probably  has  been  given  to  this  point.  The 
arrow-shaft  is  round,  about  a  quarter  inch  in  diameter,  and  from 
twenty  to  thirty  inches  long,  though  some  are  longer.2  Long 
ones  are  usually  made  of  reed  with  a  hardwood  tip,  upon  which 
the  head  is  mounted ;  this,  as  noted  above,  now  being  of  hoop  iron. 
Stone  heads  formerly  were  the  chief  method  of  tipping  the  shaft. 
In  1875  I  purchased  a  number  of  these  from  an  old  arrow-maker 
of  the  Pai  Ute  tribe.  The  other  end  of  the  shaft  is  feathered. 
This  is  done  by  attaching  split  feathers  to  it  with  the  web  cut 
narrow,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  it  guidance.  This  feathering  is 
a  distinguishing  feature,  and  an  expert  can  place  the  maker  of  an 
arrow  by  the  style  of  feathering.  Feathers  of  birds  of  prey  are 
almost  invariably  employed.  The  number  is  sometimes  two,  but 
generally  three.  They  are  attached  by  strands  of  moist  sinew 
wound  around  the  ends  and  when  the  sinew  is  dry  it  becomes  a 
smooth  firm  band.  Three  zigzag  grooves  are  scratched  down 
the  shaft,  some  say  not,  as  popularly  believed,  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  the  flow  of  blood,  but  because  this  is  the  lightning  symbol, 
and  is  intended  to  endow  the  arrow  with  speed  and  certainty.  But 
Dorsey  says  the  Omahas  told  him  their  object  was  to  increase  flow 
of  blood  from  the  wound.  Poisoned  arrows  were  made  by  dipping 

1  Hoffman  denies  this,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  279. 
"  For   modern   arrow-making   among  the   Menominee,  see  Fourteenth 
Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  275  et  seq. 


Weapons,   Armour,   Implements,   Transportation    257 

the  points  into  rotting  liver  or  rattlesnake  venom,  etc.  These 
were  used  for  war.  The  arrow-shaft  when  first  made  is  by  no 
means  always  straight,  but  the  Amerind  invented  a  piece  of  horn 
or  stone  with  perforations  through  which  the  heated  shaft  is 
drawn  till  it  is  straight.  See  illustration  at  head  of  this  chapter. 
Quivers  are  all  very  similar  in  plan  also,  usually  comprising  a 
case  for  the  bow,  one  for  the  arrows,  and  in  some  tribes  a  pouch 
containing  arrow-making  tools.  The  Kskimo  make  their  quivers 
of  sealskin,  other  tribes  use  cat,  deer,  panther,  otter,  etc.  The 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

ESKIMO    PLATE    ARMOUR,   DIOMEDE    ISLAND,    BERING    STRAIT 

"  Made  of  five  imbricating  rows  of  plates  of  walrus  ivory  of  unequal  size  in  the  different  rows, 
pierced  with  from  6  to  13  holes,  lashed  with  sealskin  thongs."  164  plates  in  all.  In  form, 
lashing  and  adjustment  of  plates  it  is  identical  with  certain  types  of  Japanese  armour.  Width, 
extended,  49  in.  ;  height,  24  in. 

spear  doubtless  preceded  the  bow  and  arrow.  It  is  little  used  by 
the  interior  tribes,  but  in  the  form  of  the  harpoon,  as  well  as  the 
regular  spear  form,  is  common  among  the  Kskimo  and  other  coast 
Amerinds.1 

In  armour,  the  Amerind  was  inventive,  as  in  everything  else, 
and  he  devised  some  excellent  means  for  defence  for  the  body2; 

1  It  is  said  that  a  blow-gun  was  also  used  by  some  North  American 
tribes.     "  Many  of  the  Siouan  Indians  use  the  lance,  javelin,  or  spear."- 
McGee,  Fifteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  171. 

'2  "  Primitive  American  Armour,"  Report  of  National  Museum,  1893. 


258  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

and  borrowed  one  form,  according  to  Hough,  from  Asia.  His 
shields  were  made  of  wood,  basketry,  cotton,  and  rawhide,  and 
were  usually  circular.  The  commonest  material  was  rawhide, 
which  was  often  contracted  and  hardened  by  fire,  and  then  covered 
with  buckskin.  It  was  variously  ornamented,  and  the  decoration 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

TLINKIT    SKIN    ARMOUR,  ALASKA 

"Made  of  tanned  hide;  two  thicknesses;  sewed  along  the  upper  edge.  The  'swallow-tail* 
portion  is  reinforced  with  two  extra  thicknesses,  making  four  in  all.  The  coat  is  very  heavy. 
The  sewing  is  done  with  sinew.  Width,  25  in.  ;  height,  33  in." 

was  the  outcome  of  many  a  religious  ceremony  conducted  accord 
ing  to  long-established  rules.  It  was  <4  invariably  held  on  the  left 
arm,  usually  by  a  simple  thong  of  buckskin  attached  to  the  in 
terior."  Many  shields  have  two  covers,  each  held  on  by  a  gather 
ing  string.  In  New  Mexico  and  Mexico  some  tribes  used  one 
that  could  be  shut  up  like  a  fan,  and  the  Navajos  had  one  that 
was  made  of  cedar  rods  tied  together  with  cords. 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    259 


The  body  armour  was  made  of  rows  of  overlapping  plates, 
lashed  together,  of  slats,  of  rods,  of  skins,  and  of  cotton  padded. 
The  plate  armour  is  the  one  that  was  borrowed  from  Asia  ;  a 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

PREHISTORIC   ALEUTIAN    ROD    ARMOUR 
"  The  small  rods  composing  it  are  about  ^  in.  diameter,  painted  red.     Width,  40  in.  ;  height, 

25  in.     Position  as  on  the  body.     It  was  fastened  behind  with  two  loops  of  sinew,  into  which 

wooden  buttons  were  inserted  " 

migration  apparently  across  Bering  Strait.  The  cotton-padded 
armour  was  confined  to  the  Amerinds  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  but  the  other  varieties  were  distributed  over  the  whole 


260  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

area.  In  the  plate  armour,  "  small,  flat,  oblong  plates  of  ivory 
or  bone  pierced  near  the  edges  with  from  four  to  six  or  more 
holes,"  were  lashed  in  series  with  rawhide  thongs.  The  coat, 
made  in  this  way  of  a  number  of  rows,  was  tied  at  the  back  with 
thongs,  or  had  a  toggle  fastening.  Some  of  these  plates  in  iron 
and  in  copper  have  been  dug  up  at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  and  on 
St.  I^awrence  Island.  This  armour  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
Japanese,  and  if  it  was  wholly  an  imported  idea,  it  was  probably 
a  comparatively  recent  one.  The  Tlinkits  used  the  slat  armour 
and  also  a  rod  armour,  the  former  being  made  of  very  hard  wood 
fastened  with  cords  of  sinew.  A  Tlinkit  greave  has  also  been 
found  among  the  collections  in  the  National  Museum,  so  that  it  is 
probable  that  the  North-west  coast  Amerinds  protected  arms  and 
legs  as  well  as  body.  The  Iroquois  are  also  reported  to  have 
used  armour  of  rods  both  on  their  limbs  and  their  vital  parts. 
The  rod  armour  was  formed  by  sewing  or  lacing  together  with 
native  twine  a  series  of  straight  slender  rods  sufficient  to  pass 
around  the  body  and  tie  in  front,  with  places  for  the  arms,  and 
straps  over  the  shoulders.  The  skin  armour  was  simply  a  sort  of 
heavy,  sleeveless  shirt  made  of  thick  hide,  doubled  and  reinforced 
and  otherwise  rendered  as  nearly  as  possible  proof  against  arrow 
or  spear.  In  Mexico,  where  the  padded  cotton  armour  was  chiefly 
worn,  a  breastplate  of  the  same  material  was  put  on  under  it.  The 
common  Aztec  soldiers  wore  armour  of  "  reeds,  grass,  and  hides, 
or  'nequen  cloth,  coated  with  India-rubber."  l  Veytia  says  the 
"  private  soldiers  painted  the  upper  part  of  the  body  to  represent 
armour,  but  from  the  waist  to  the  thighs  they  wore  short  drawers, 
and  over  them  fastened  around  the  waist  a  kind  of  kilt  that  reached 
to  the  knee,  and  availed  them  somewhat  for  defence.  Across  the 
body  was  a  sash  made  of  feathers  that  passed  from  the  right 
shoulder  to  the  left  side  of  the  waist."  2  Many  Amerinds  also 
wore  in  conjunction  with  the  various  kinds  of  armour,  a  helmet, 
ranging  from  the  feathered  war-bonnet  to  a  heavy  mask-helmet  of 
wood.  The  Tarascos  of  Mexico,  according  to  Brinton,  specially  ex 
celled  in  defensive  armour,  which  "consisted  of  helmet,  body  pieces, 
and  greaves  for  the  legs  and  arms,  all  of  wood  covered  neatly 


1  Bancroft,  H.  H.,  Native  Races,  vol.  ii.,  p.  407. 

2  Veytia,  Hist.  Ant.  Mej.,  torn,  i.,  pp.  289,  290;  see  also  page  134,  this 


book. 


CHIPPED  FLINT 


CHIPPED  FLINT  BLUNT 
ARROW-HEAD,   GEORGIA 


CHIPPED  FLINT  IMPLE 
MENT,  TENNESSEE 


SPECIMEN  "  CORES,"  OR  BLOCKS  OF  FLINT 

From  which  flakes  were  struck  off  for  making  arrow-heads,  etc. 

Usually  about  3  in.  long  in  the  U.  S.,  bvc  longer  elsewhere 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
SPECIMEN  OF   CHIPPED    FLINT    DISCS,    CALLED 

"TURTLEBACK,"  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

261 


GROOVED    STONE    AXE,    TEN 
NESSEE  (GROUND) 


262  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

with  copper  or  gold  plates,  so  well  done  that  the  pieces  looked  as 
if  they  were  of  solid  metal."  '  The  Mayas  wore  cotton  armour 
similar  to  that  of  the  Mexicans,  and  bore  a  shield  also.  Breast 
plates  of  copper  have  been  found  in  the  Atlantic  region,  and  many 
of  the  Amerinds  there  used  body  armour  of  wood,  skins,  and  bark. 
Another  kind  of  defensive  armour,  though  its  qualities  were 
purely  imaginary,  is  the  so-called  "  ghost-shirt"  (see  illustration, 
page  157)  made  of  cloth  or  skin,  and  resembling  the  ordinary  war- 
shirt  of  the  Dakota.  This  shirt  came  into  notice  during  the  ' '  Ghost 
Dance"  2  excitement  that  began  about  1890  and  lasted  for  six  or 
eight  years.  It  was  worn  by  all  men,  women,  and  children  who 
accepted  the  "  Ghost  "  doctrine,  either  as  an  outside  or  under  gar 
ment,  and  it  was  implicitly  believed  that  no  bullet  or  other  weapon 
could  penetrate  its  sacred  material.3  As  already  remarked  in 
another  chapter,  the  Amerinds  in  modern  times,  of  at  least  the 
United  States  region,  usually  went  into  battle  naked.  The  only 
defensive  armour  was,  as  Mooney  records,  "  his  protecting  medi 
cine,"  which  consisted  of  "  a  feather,  a  tiny  bag  of  some  sacred 
powder,  the  claw  of  an  animal,  the  head  of  a  bird,  or  some  other 
small  object,  which  could  be  readily  twisted  into  his  hair  or  hid 
den  between  the  covers  of  his  shield.  ...  Its  virtue  depended 
entirely  on  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration,  and  not  on  size  or 
texture.  The  war-paint  had  the  same  magic  power  of  protection. 
The  so-called  '  war-shirt  '  was  worn  chiefly  in  ceremonial 
dress  parades  and  only  rarely  on  the  warpath."  4  Just  when  the 
armour  which  protected  by  its  intrinsic  strength  was  abandoned 
for  the  protection  of  the  "  medicine  "  is  not,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
at  present  known.  At  one  time,  it  seems  quite  certain,  the  ma 
terial  protection  of  armour  was  almost  universal  over  the  whole 
of  North  America,  while  in  our  latter  day  no  one  ever  saw  an 
Amerind  fight  with  armour  on.  The  idea  of  going  into  battle 
nude  was  that  the  warrior's  movements  were  unincumbered,  while 
his  "  medicine"  afforded  him  ample  protection.  A  Navajo  who 

1  Brinton,  The  American  Race,  p.  138. 

2 ''The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  by  James  Moouey,  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth.  ;  see  also  Chap.  VI.,  this  book. 

3  The  Utah   Mormons  wear  an   undergarment   supposed  to  have  such 
resistance.     The  idea  may  have  come  from  them. 

4  James  Moouey,  "The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  fourteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  790. 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    263 


posed  for  me  for  a  picture  in  Arizona  described  the  Navajo  manner 
of  going  to  battle,  but  never  mentioned  armour,  or  any  kind  of 
protection.  He  said  they  always  went  naked,  with  even  their  hair 
untied  from  its  customary  knot  and  falling  loose  on  the  shoulders. 

Stone  arrow-  and  spear-heads  are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  con 
tinent,  but  they  are  almost  always  chipped,  seldom  ground. 
Maguire,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  this  subject,  declares 
chipping  to  be  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  arts.  "  On  examina 
tion,"  he  says,  "  it  is  found  that  every 

rock  has  been  worked  in  the  best  and  m& 

most  economical  method  which  its 
texture  admits."  The  usual  way  of 
making  arrow-heads  was  to  place  the 
bit  of  stone  previously  flaked  from  a 
nodule  or  fragment  and  brought  near 
the  shape  by  percussion,  on  the  palm 
of  the  left  hand,  which  is  protected  by 
a  glove  or  a  piece  of  buckskin,  and 
hold  it  there  by  the  fingers  of  that 
hand  while  the  right  brings  a  down 
pressure  to  bear  on  the  edges  by  the 
point  of  a  slender  piece  of  horn  or 
bone.  The  chips  spring  off  and  the 
operation  is  continued  till  the  desired 
shape  is  attained.  I  tried  this  method 
once  on  a  flake  of  chalcedony  I  had 
picked  up,  and  had  no  difficulty  in 
bringing  it  to  an  arrow-head  shape. 
Maguire  has  made  a  great  many  suc 
cessfully.  Chisels,  axes,  and  mauls  wrere  made  the  same  way  or 
were  ground  into  shape,  a  groove  being  made  in  the  axes  across 
the  sides  to  receive  a  split  stick  that  was  bound  on  for  a  handle. 
It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say,  perhaps,  that  there  never  could 
have  been  a  time  when  all  tribes  were  equally  proficient  in  the  art 
of  stone  working,  some  being  skilful  when  others  could  make 
nothing.1 

In  this  country  we  know  so  well  the  origin  of  the  stone 
implements  found  in  the  fields  that  we  smile  when  we  read  of 
people  in  Europe  treating  them  as  charms  and  talismans.  "When 

1  See  Preface  pages  iv.  and  v.,  and  also  the  last  chapter  of  this  book. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

DIAGRAM       EXPLAINING       TERMS 

TO    BE   USED     IN     DESCRIBING 

STONE   WEAPONS 
«,  point ;  b,  edge  ;  c,  face ;  */,  bevel ; 
e,  blade;  f,  tang;  g,  stem  ;  /&,  base;  ?', 
notch  ;  k,  neck  ;  ;;/,  barb,  or  shoulder 


264  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

kept  in  a  house  they  protect  it  from  lightning  ;  the  water  in  which 
a  celt  has  been  boiled  is  a  remedy  against  rheumatism  ;  and  sick 
cattle  are  cured  by  drinking  water  in  which  a  celt  has  been 
placed."  The  Amerinds  frequently  treat  them  as  medicine.1 

Some  tools  were  produced  in  the  rough  at  various  sites,  or 
workshops,  located  at  the  quarries.  Those  in  Ohio  described  by 
Moorehead  are  probably  the  most  extensive  in  North  America, 
except  the  obsidian  mines  of  Hidalgo,  Mexico.  '  The  magnitude 
of  the  deposit  is  such,"  he  says,  "  that  it  has  given  to  the  locality 
the  distinctive  name  of  Flint  Ridge."  It  occupies  an  area  about 
eight  miles  long  by  three  wide.  Here  thousands  of  cubic  yards 
of  earth  had  been  removed  to  reach  the  flint  beneath.  "Acre 
after  acre  has  been  so  thoroughly  excavated  that  scarcely  a  single 
foot  of  earth  and  stone  retains  its  original  position.  Hundreds  of 
wagon  loads  of  spalls  cover  the  ground."  One  of  the  pits  formed 
in  this  extremely  hard  stone  is  almost  a  hundred  feet  in  diameter 
and  more  than  eighteen  feet  deep.  The  method  employed  was  to 
build  a  fire  on  the  rock  and  then  throw  cold  water  on  the  spot  till 
the  edge  was  broken  through  and  they  could  knock  flakes  off  of 
the  under  side  with  stone  hammers.  These  were  put  roughly  into 
shape  at  some  nearby  spot  and  then  perhaps  taken  far  away  to  be 
finished.  This  flint  formed  better  tools  than  that  found  on  the 
surface.2  Many  of  the  blades  were  often  piled  together  for  some 
unknown  reason.  In  sinking  a  well  in  a  corner  of  a  mound  in 
Illinois,  eighteen  large  flint  spades  were  found  a  few  feet  below 
the  surface,  closely  packed  together,  and  Moorehead  found  in  Ohio 
the  largest  ' '  cache  ' '  ever  brought  to  light.  This  formed  a  mound 
in  the  Hopewell  group,  six  feet  high  and  sixty  feet  in  diameter  at 
the  base,  and  contained  over  seven  thousand  flint  discs  about  the 
size  of  a  man's  hand.3 

Some  spear-points  found  are  more  than  a  foot  long  and  three 
inches  wide,  and  they  vary  from  this  down  to  what  may  be  termed 
large  arrow-heads.  Some  writers  claim  that  only  the  very  small- 

1  For  "Medicine  Arrows  of  the  Oregon  Indians,"  see  A.  S.  Gatschet, 
Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore,  1893. 

2  The  surface  flint  was  in  bowlders  and  nodules. 

3  For  a  valuable  account  of  stone  implements  of  the  "  Potomac-Chesa 
peake  Tidewater  Province,"  see  paper  by  W.  H.  Holmes  in  Fifteenth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth.  ;  also,  "  The  Obsidian  Mines  of  Hidalgo,  Mexico,"  by  the 
same  author,  American  Anthropologist,  vol.  ii.,  No.  3,  N.  S. 


Weapons,   Armour,   Implements,   Transportation    265 

est  heads  were  from  arrows,  but  this  would  vary  according  to  the 
tribe  and  the  game  hunted,  just  as  we  have  various  bores  to  our 
rifles.  The  stone  arrow-heads  of  the  Pai  Utes  twenty-five  years 
ago  were  small,  but  the  smallest  were  often  attached  to  the  longest 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mus. 

TLINKIT    SLAT-AND-ROD    ARMOUR,    ALASKA,    FRONT   VIEW 

"  Made  of  slats  and  rods  of  hard  wood,  i£  to  i£  in.  wide,  T5S  in.  thick,  woven  together  by  means 
of  fine  sinew  cord  so  as  to  admit  of  considerable  flexibility.  The  rods  and  slats  are  pared 
down  to  form  channels  for  the  reception  of  the  cord  weaving.  The  front  and  back  portions 
are  woven  separately.  The  neck  portions  are  made  up  of  short  slats,  and  sewed  on  by  means 
of  a  strip  of  rawhide  \\  in.  wide.  The  shoulder  supports  are  of  very  thick  elkhide,  the  one 
on  the  right  being  fastened  by  a  slash  and  toggle.  Width  of  rear  portion,  24  in. ;  height,  20 
in.  ;  width  of  front  portion,  18  in. ;  height,  19  in." 


arrows.  The  method  of  securing  the  head  to  the  shaft  was  gen 
erally  similar  everywhere.  A  notch  being  cut  in  the  end  of  the 
stick,  a  small  quantity  of  pitch,  asphaltum,  fish,  or  animal  glue, 


266  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

or  cement,  was  placed  in  it,  warmed,  and  the  stone  head  squeezed 
into  position,  where  it  was  held  by  wrappings  of  wet  sinew  thread 
which,  drying,  gave  it  a  firm  grip,  and  yet  when  moistened -by 
blood  would  allow  the  head  to  come  off  in  a  wound.  The  sinew 
was  variously  applied,  according  to  the  shape  of  the  head.  The 
triangular  head  was  held  on  by  passing  the  sinew  over  the  outer 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


APACHE    WAR-BONNET 


edges,  while  in  that  with  a  tang,  which  went  well  down  into  the 
shaft,  the  sinew  was  wound  round  and  round  the  shaft  and  over 
the  tang  at  the  same  time.  All  iron  heads  were  made  and 
mounted  in  the  latter  way.  In  the  leaf-shaped  head  with  deep 
notches,  the  wrapping  was  thoroughly  protected  by  the  depth  of 
the  notches  through  which  it  passed.  The  hafting  of  knives  was 
much  like  that  of  arrows  and  spears,  the  ordinary  stone  knife 
looking  much  like  a  spear-head,  and  probably  some  implements 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    267 

that  are  classed  as  spear-heads  were  knives  instead.  Many  were 
double-edged,  while  others  were  single.  Some  of  the  diminutive 
stone  implements  resembling  arrow-heads  were  drill-heads  or  awls, 
and  also  heads  for  the  children's  play-arrows.1  There  is  also  a 
great  range  in  the  size  of  the  stone  axes  and  hammers,  from  mere 
toys  to  those  so  large  as  to  be  unwieldy.  Grooved  stone  axes  are 
found  all  over  the  continent,  except  in  the  mounds  of  Ohio.  Like 
other  stone  implements,  they  have  often  been  used  successively  by 
various  tribes.  Those  used  to-day  by  the  Mokis  and  Zunis  are 
some  they  have  found,  and  they  use  them  as  pounders  and  pestles. 
Many  of  the  axes  and  hammers  were  weapons  of  war. 

The  Amerinds  were  so  skilful  in  the  use  of  stone  tools  that  it 
is  related  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  West  they  would  skin  and 
dress  a  deer  with  a  stone  almost  as  quickly  as  a  white  man  could 
do  it  with  a  hunting-knife.  For  this  purpose  they  would  pick  up 
a  thin  stone  and  with  a  few  sharp  blows  from  another  stone  bring 
it  to  a  cutting  edge.  Skins  were  dressed  by  scrapers  of  bone  or 
stone  to  remove  superfluous  flesh.  Pins  were  used  for  stretching 
them  on  the  ground. 

Among  the  Eskimo  the  harpoon  reached  a  high  state  of  per 
fection,  and  many  of  their  weapons  are  beautifully  made.  Bone, 
wood,  and  ivory  were  utilised  for  the  shaft,  and  a  specially  unique 
one  was  made  from  the  single  horn  of  the  narwhal.  Spears  or 
lances  were  also  used  for  land  animals  before  they  had  firearms. 
They  are  now  pretty  well  supplied  with  the  latest  Winchester 
rifles.  The  harpoon  to-day  has  a  blade  of  thin  iron  or  steel  set  into 
an  ivory  or  bone  piece  which  has  a  hole  through  it  that  retains  in 
place  a  sealskin  thong  to  which  a  line  is  attached.  The  bottom 
of  the  ivory  piece  has  a  socket  in  it  that  fits  on  to  the  lance  shaft. 
When  the  harpoon  strikes  an  animal's  body  the  head  of  it  then 
hangs  there  on  the  end  of  the  line,  coming  loose  from  the  shaft. 
There  are  various  forms  of  the  harpoon  for  different  animals,  and 
they  are  also  of  different  sizes  according  to  the  weight  and 
strength  of  the  owner.  Formerly  the  blades  were  of  slate,  jade, 
or  flint.  Floats  of  sealskin  inflated  are  used  to  mark  the  place  of 
a  capture,  so  that  carcass  and  harpoon  can  be  easily  recovered. 
The  Eskimo  had  a  wolf-killer  that  was  ingenious.  A  stout  piece 
of  whalebone,  about  a  foot  long  and  half  an  inch  broad,  was  sharp- 

1  Tylor  declares  that  it  is  not  possible  to  distinguish  stone  weapons  from 
one  part  of  the  world  from  those  from  any  other  part. 


268 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


ened  at  the  ends  and  then  frozen  in  a  piece  of  blubber  in  a  Z 
shape.  The  wolf  swallowing  it,  its  own  heat  released 
the  whalebone,  which  penetrated  the  sides  of  the 
stomach  and  killed  the  animal.  Each  tribe  had  a  varied 
assortment  of  implements  according  to 
locality  and  occupation,  and  it  would  not 
be  possible  even  to  mention  them  all  in 
a  single  chapter,  so  I  shall  give  only  the 
most  important.  The  bird  spear  of  the 
Eskimo  is  a  singular  weap 
on.  The  shaft  is  laid  on  a 
short  board  fifteen  to  eigh 
teen  inches  long,  which  has 
a  groove  to  receive  the 
shaft,  a  handle,  and  a  hole 
for  the  first  finger.  A  spike 
in  the  shaft  prevents  slip 
ping,  and  when  the  board  is 
hurled  forward  by  a  strong 
wrist  motion,  the  fingers  let 
go  the  shaft,  which,  leaving 
the  board,  flies  forward  to 
the  mark  with  considerable 
force.  These  spears  are 
also  used  by  the  Aleuts. 
The  Eskimo  also  use  for 
bird  killing  six  or  seven 
ivory  balls,  each  attached 
to  a  string  about  thirty 
inches  long,  the  ends  of  the 
strings  being  supplied  with 
tufts  of  feathers.  The 
balls  spread  apart  in  flying 
through  the  air  and  cover  a 
wide  space.  For  war  all 
tribes  had  clubs  and  toma 
hawks.  The  Mexicans  used 
some  with  blades  of  obsidian  set  in  both  edges.  u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 

In  the  line  of  throwing  weapons  is  tia&putchkohu  ofESKIMO  BiRD 
the  Mokis,  a  first  cousin  to  the  Australian  boomerang.  BOLAS.    1/9 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO     THROWING-BOARDS    FOR 
DARTS.        \i 


Weapons,   Armour,   Implements,   Transportation    269 


It  is  effective  at  thirty  or  forty  yards,  but  does  not  return.     It  is  a 
flat  piece  of  curved  oak,  sawed  out  of  a  bend  of  a  limb,  about 


U.S.Bu.Eth. 


side 


Ute  stone  knife.     Handle  of 
wood  and  blade  set  in  a  dark  cement 


Eskimo  slate  knives. 
Handles  of  wood 


AMERINDIAN    KNIVES 

twenty  inches  long,  one  quarter  to  one  half  inch  thick,  and  two 
inches  wide,  with  a  small  handle  at  one  end.  It  is  thrown  with 
the  concave  side  forward. 

Nets  were  used  for  fishing  and  for  hunting.     The  Pai  Utes 
made  a  good  net  of  cord,  from  milkweed  or   sagebrush   bark, 


270  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKJ    THROWING-STICK,    OR    PUTCHKOHL 


about  as  thick  as  telegraph  wire.     It  was  about  fifty  feet  long  and 
three  feet  broad,  and  was  propped  up  on  the  ground  on  a  number 

of  slender  rods, 
one  net  being 
joined  to  an 
other's  end 
until  a  large 
semi-circle  was 
formed  into 

which  rabbits  from  a  large  area  were  frightened  by  noises. 
Caught  in  the  meshes,  they  were  soon  despatched 
by  their  pursuers.  Many  Amerinds  used  nets  for 
fishing,  and  the  Eskimo  make  a  fine, 
strong  one  of  sealskin,  with  which  they 
catch  the  seal  itself  as  it  rushes  after 
prey  in  the  waters  near  some  beach 
where  the  net  is  stretched.  I  obtained 
one  that  is  fifty  feet  long  and  about 
six  feet  wide,  with  meshes  seven  inches 
square. 

For  agricultural  operations  the  Am 
erinds  had  various  tools,  which,  though 
primitive,  answered  the  requirements. 
Of  the  plough,  or  anything  approach 
ing  it,  they  had  no  knowledge,  the 
hoe  being  their  chief  implement.  This 
was  made  of  flint,  the  shoulder-blade 
of  a  deer  or  other  animal,  a  turtle  shell 
or  some  similar  object.  Spades  were 
also  made,  often  of  wood,  and  in  the 
Mississippi  region  of  flint,  but  these 
are  seldom  found  in  the  Atlantic  divi- 
In  the  Moki  country  corn  is 

stick 


if, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


sion. 

still   planted   with   a   dibble,    a    o,.^.^   ^  s  Bu  Eth 
sharpened  at  one  end  and  having  on  zufti  WOODEN 
one  side  a   projection    to   receive   the    SPADE 
foot,   which  pressed   it  into  the  soil. 


PUEBLO  PLANT-    Having  cultivated  a  crop  of  maize,  the 
;NG  STICK.   Vj 


Used  for  shovel 
ling  snow  from 
roofs  and  for  tak 
ing  bread  from 
ovens 


grain    had    to   be    reduced     to    meal 
before    it   would    serve    for   winter   use,    and    for   this   purpose 


272  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

mortars  of  wood  and  stone  were  used,  and  also  the  metates,  or  meal 
ing  stones.  Other  substances  besides  corn  were  also  ground  in 
the  mortars,  as  seeds  of  grass,  dried  fish,  nuts,  grasshoppers, 
paint,  etc.  Sometimes  natural  depressions  in  rocks  were  utilised, 
but  oftener  small  bowlders  were  worked  into  the  desired  shape  and 
stone  pestles  were  wrought  out  to  accompany  them.  The  cavity 
was  of  various  depths.  Those  tribes  growing  little  corn  made 
mortars  neither  large  nor  deep,  and  some,  like  the  Pai  Utes, 
growing  no  corn  at  all,  ground  their  grass  seeds  on  a  flat  stone, 
while  those  relying  chiefly  on  corn  for  food,  like  the  Pueblos  and 
the  Mexicans,  in  the  early  days  made  large  oblong  mortars,  of 
hard  basalt  cut  out  to  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  inches,  with  sides 
not  more  than  an  inch  and  a  half  or  two  inches  thick.  While 
these  were  really  mortars,  the  grain  was  not  pounded  in  them,  but 
crushed  and  rubbed  into  meal  by  means  of  another  stone,  flat  and 
oblong,  about  four  and  a  half  inches  wide  and  some  ten  inches 
long  and  an  inch  or  two  thick.  When  the  Pueblos  and  Mexicans 
settled  in  permanent  houses  they  departed  from  the  old  way  of 
hollowing  out  these  stones,  and  used  instead  a  flat  slab,  set  up  at 
an  angle  of  about  thirty-five  degrees  in  a  frame  of  slabs  of  stone,  or 
of  wood,  about  six  or  eight  inches  deep.  Several  of  these  slabs 
were  fixed  in  a  row,  usually  three,  and  were  each  made  to  produce 
different  degrees  of  fineness  by  the  girls  behind  till  at  the  last 
stone,  or  metate,1  as  they  are  usually  called,  the  meal  was  of  the 
required  condition.  See  page  194.  The  Eastern  Amerinds  usually 
pounded  their  corn  with  stone  pestles  in  wooden  mortars.  Some 
Western  tribes  used  the  same  method.  Diminutive  mortars  were 
used  for  preparing  face  paints,  while  others  were  children's  toys. 
The  so-called  cupped-stones  have  sometimes  been  supposed  to  be 
paint  mortars,  but,  as  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter  (p.  66), 
they  may  have  been  mostly  used  for  roughing  and  shaping  the 
ends  of  fire-drills. 

The  Navajos  carve  moulds  for  their  silver  casting  in  sandstone, 
and  it  seems  likely  that  some  of  the  so-called  stone  tablets,  in 
scribed  with  figures  that  are  not  clearly  defined,  may  have  been 
nothing  more  than  moulds,  in  those  regions,  at  least,  where  it  is 
known  that  copper  or  other  metals  were  worked.2 

1  From  the  Aztec  :  metlail. 

*  While  the  Eastern  Amerinds  generally  seem  not  to  have  known  how  to 
melt  copper,  some  few  may  have  experimented  in  a  limited  way  with  it. 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    273 

The  spindle  and  loom,  which  belong  among  the  implements 
and  tools  enumerated  here,  have  already  been  described  in  con 
nection  with  weaving  and  they  will  now  be  passed  by.  The  tools 
used  in  metal  working  will  be  mentioned  in  a  following  chapter. 

Household  utensils  were  made  of  various  materials,  of  which 
earthenware,  as  noted  in  the  chapter  on  Pottery,  was  one  of  the 
chief.  There  were  also  trays,  boxes,  buckets,  and  cups  of  wood. 
Others  were  of  whalebone,  sealskin,  soapstone,  and  ivory.  Spoons 
were  made  from  the  horns  of  the  mountain  sheep,  from  those  of 
goats,  and  from  bison  horns.  Some  of  these  spoons,  made  of  horn 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


SHELL    SPOON,    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY 
Actual  size 


by  the  North-west  coast  Amerinds,  are  elaborately  carved  and 
polished.  Clam,  oyster,  conch,  and  turtle  shells  also  served 
for  ladles  and  spoons.  Drinking  cups,  dippers,  water-bottles, 
and  other  vessels  were  made  of  gourds.  Metallic  cups  or  pots 
have  not  been  found  antedating  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards. 
Soapstone  vessels,  as  well  as  earthenware,  were  made  and  used  in 
the  Atlantic  region  ;  soapstone  by  the  Eskimo.  Quarries  exist 
where  the  material  was  obtained,  especially  in  the  Chesapeake- 
Potomac  tidewater  region.  Special  pick-like  stone  tools  were 
made  for  cutting  out  these  pots  and  masses.  The  Eskimo,  who 
once  ranged  down  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  and  possibly 
farther,  may  have  originally  opened  up  some  of  these  quarries. 

18 


274 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


In  the  line  of  utensils,  the  Eskimo  lamp,  is,  perhaps,  one  of 
the  most  important  and  unique.1  No  other  Amerinds  had  any 
thing  of  the  kind.  It  was  a  necessity  with  the  Eskimo,  while 
tribes  living  in  wooded  regions  would  have  no  use  for  it.  They 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


PUEBLO    MOUNTAIN    SHEEP-HORN    SPOON. 


could  obtain  light  from  camp-fires,  especially  with  the  addi 
tion  of  pitch  pine.  But  the  Eskimo  lamp  is  primarily  a  heat 
ing  apparatus.  What  need  then  for  Amerinds,  who  had  wood, 
to  bother  with  a  lamp,  for  which  oil  must  be  prepared?  Be 
sides  this  consideration  was  the  one  of  cleanliness,  for  the  lamp 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


MENOMINEE   WOODEN    MORTAR   AND    PESTLE 


is  very  dirty,  and  even  Amerinds  have  standards.  ; '  Far  more 
remarkable  than  being  the  unique  possessors  of  the  lamp  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere,"  says  Hough,  "  the  Eskimo  present  the 
spectacle  of  a  people  depending  for  their  very  existence  upon  this 


1  Walter  Hough, 
p.  1028. 


The  Lamp  of  the  Eskimo,"  Rep.  Nat.  Mus.,  1896, 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    275 

household  belonging.  Indeed,  it  is  a  startling  conclusion  that 
the  lamp  has  determined  the  occupancy  of  an  otherwise  uninhabit 
able  region  by  the  Eskimo,  or,  in  other  words,  the  distribution 
of  a  race."  1  When  fuel  can  be  obtained,  which  is  the  case  often 
in  summer,  fires  are  used  instead  of  the  lamp.  This  fuel  is  peat, 
grass,  driftwood,  or  shrubs.  The  lamp  is  generally  of  soapstone, 


U.S.  Bu.  Eth. 


STONE    HOUSE-LAMP,    POINT   BARROW,    ALASKA.       # 
18  in.  to  3  ft.  in  length 

though  some  have  been  made  of  clay,  earthenware,  bone,  or  wood. 
The  usual  shape  is  something  like  a  clam  shell,  though  they  are 
sometimes  oval  or  pear-shaped,  or  round.  They  are  modified  in 
form  according  to  the  use  required  of  them,  the  traveller's  lamp 
being  much  smaller  necessarily  than  the  ordinary  lamp  of  the 
iglu.  The  lamps  vary  in  length  from  two  or  three  inches  to 
about  two  feet,  and  in  width  from  one  half  inch  to  nine  or  ten 


JThe  Amerinds  of  Vancouver  Island  were  said  by  Captain  Chase  to  use 
a  lamp  made  of  a  clam  shell,  with  oil  from  the  whale  or  porpoise.  The  wick 
was  bark.— Hough,  p.  1039. 


276  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

inches,  while  the  height  is  from  less  than  an  inch  to  four  or  five. 
The  smallest  specimens  are  toy  lamps  of  the  children,  and  the 
next  in  size  the  traveller's  lamp.  Small  lamps  are  often  balanced 
but  the  large  ones  are  not,  but  are  supported  by  a  wooden  block 
or  by  pegs  of  wood  or  bone  stuck  into  the  snow.  The  shallow 
hollow  of  the  lamp  is  filled  with  seal  oil,  which  is  obtained  in  winter 
by  freezing  the  blubber,  when  the  oil  can  easily  be  extracted  by 
beating  ;  in  summer  often  by  chewing  it  out.  The  wick  is  of  moss 
and  is  arranged  along  the  wide  side  of  the  lamp.  It  has  to  be 
trimmed  frequently,  but  when  kept  in  good  order  gives  a  bright 
illumination  which  Schwatka  declared  to  be  "  certainly  equal  to 
the  light  from  three  or  four  kerosene  lamps."  The  oil  is  kept 
in  sealskins,  which  are  made  into  bottles  by  sewing,  and  the  com 
fort  and  cheerfulness  of  the  iglu  during  the  long  night  depend  on 
the  stock  of  oil  which  the  family  has  been  able  to  secure.  The 
farther  north,  the  larger  the  lamp,  because  the  darkness  is  longer 
and  the  cold  greater.  Vice  versa,  southward  it  finally  disappears. 
In  transportation  facilities  the  Amerinds  were  extremely  de 
ficient,  the  Eskimo  excelling  all  others  in  this  direction.  This 
was  the  result  of  environment  and  does  not  indicate  superiority 
of  the  Eskimo  over  other  stocks.  They  had  vast  treeless  plains 
and  ice  sheets  to  traverse,  and  the  sledge  was  a  necessity.  Dogs  all 
Amerinds  had,  and  some  of  them  used  them,  to  a  certain  extent, 
for  beasts  of  burden,  so  that  there  was  not  a  great  deal  of  inven 
tion  required  to  attach  one  or  several  to  the  sledge.  On  the  other 
hand,  most  Amerinds  were  not  so  situated  that  they  could  utilise 
the  dog  in  this  way,  and  the  continent  offered  them  no  substitute 
for  it  unless,  as  has  been  suspected,  some  of  the  South-western 
tribes  may  have  had  an  animal  resembling  the  vicuna,  which  they 
kept  for  its  wool  and  presumably  for  transportation  purposes  also. 
But  there  is  as  yet  no  trustworthy  evidence  of  this,  and  it  may  be 
said  that  the  Amerinds  of  North  America  as  a  race  possessed  no 
beast  of  burden  but  the  dog.  In  time,  had  the  bison  not  been  ex 
terminated,  and  provided  also  that  the  whites  had  not  come,  it  is 
possible  that  this  animal  might  have  been  domesticated  for  milk, 
for  meat,  and  for  draught  purposes.  But  the  bison,  after  all,  was 
ill  adapted  to  work,  for  he  is  clumsy,  so  that  the  Amerind  really 
had  only  the  dog  that  was  practicable,  and  this  he  utilised  as  far 
as  possible,  or  at  least  as  far  as  necessity  directed.  The  Amerinds 
encountered  on  the  plains  of  Texas  in  1540  by  Coronado  were 


Weapons,    Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    277 

using  the  dog,1  just  as  they  afterward  used  the  horse,  for  trans 
porting  tents  and  tent  poles.  A  great  many  different  forms  of 
sledge  are  in  use  among  the  Eskimo,  and  besides  the  regular 
sledges,  walrus  skins,  rolls  of  sealskins,  and  even  packs  of  salmon 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


ESKIMO    SLEDGES 


are  sometimes  used  for  the  purpose.  When  skins  are  used  they 
are  soaked  with  fresh  water  and  sewed  in  a  bag  which  is  given  the 
desired  shape  and  then  allowed  to  freeze  solid,  in  which  condition 
it  remains  till  the  return  of  warm  weather.  The  Eskimo  is  never 
troubled  with  a  "  January  thaw."  Sometimes  sledges  are  made 
out  of  slabs  of  fresh-water  ice  frozen  together;  or  blocks  of  ice  are 
hollowed  out.  The  runners  of  the  ordinary  sledge  are  usually 
made  of  driftwood  and  are  from  five  to  fifteen  feet  long  and  twenty 
inches  to  two  and  a  half  feet  apart.  The  runners  are  connected 
by  crossbars  of  wood  or  bone  and  are  shod  with  whalebone,  ivory, 
jawbone  of  whale,  and  sometimes  with  frozen  fish.  The  shoe  is 
either  tied  or  riveted  in  place,  and  the  parts  are  generally  tied 
together,  though  now  iron  nails  are  sometimes  used.  When  there 
is  a  back  to  the  sledge  it  is  made,  in  the  Central  regions,  of  wood 
or  of  deer  or  caribou  antlers.  Very  small  sleds  are  used  for 
running  boats  out  of  water,  and  their  runners  are  often  single 
walrus  tusks,  the  rest  being  of  any  wood  obtainable.  "  The  dog 
1  See  Castaneda's  narrative,  Winship's  translation,  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  527  ;  and  Ternaux  Compans,  Relation  de  Castaneda,  p.  190, 
"ils  ont  de  grands  troupeaux  de  chiens  qui  portent  leur  bagage  ;  ils  1'at- 
tachent  surle  dos  de  ces  animaux  au  tnoyen  d'une  sangle  etd'un  petit  bat"  ; 
also  the  same  narrative,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  456. 


278  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

harness  consists  of  a  broad  band  or  strap  of  stout  rawhide,  with 
three  parallel  loops  at  one  end.  .  .  .  The  head  is  passed 
through  the  middle  loop,  and  a  foreleg  through  each  of  the  side 
loops,  bringing  the  main  part  of  the  thong  over  the  back. ' '  This 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


CENTRAL    ESKIMO    DOG    HARNESS 


is  the  trace,  and  by  means  of  a  toggle  it  is  fastened  to  a  long  line 
that  runs  back  to  the  sledge  and  connects  all  the  dogs  with  it. 
The  Central  Eskimo  make  two  bights  passing  under  the  forelegs, 
joined  by  two  straps  across  the  neck  and  breast.  The  dogs  are  not 
driven  in  Alaska,2  but  they  are  in  the  Central  and  Eastern  regions, 
and  Boas  asserts  that  silence  must  be  maintained  during  the  jour 
ney,  for  the  dogs  will  stop,  turn  around,  sit  down,  and  listen  to  any 
conversation  that  is  carried  on.  The  dogs  are  wolf-like  in  appear- 

1  For  excellent  descriptions  in  detail  of  the  Eskimo  sledge  and  methods 
of  using  it,  see  Boas,  Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  529  et  seq.  ;  Murdoch, 
Ninth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  353  et  seq.  ;  and  Turner,  Eleventh  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  241  et  seq. 

'2  Murdoch,  Ninth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  358. 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    279 

ance,  but  are  not  given  to  barking.  Indeed,  they  seem  to  pay  little 
attention  to  a  stranger.  A  long  whip  is  used  for  touching  them 
up  when  on  the  sledge.  Steering  is  done  by  the  legs  of  the 
driver.  In  the  late  spring,  when  there  are  sharp  ice  needles,  a 
sort  of  leather  boot,  with  holes  for  the  nails,  is  tied  to  the  dogs' 
feet  to  keep  them  from  getting  sore.  In  summer-time  they  have 
an  easy  life  of  it.  The  Alaska  sledge  has  no  back,  but  has  a  rail 
on  each  side. 

1  The  sleds  of  the  Chippewayan,"  says  Mason,  "  are  formed 
of  thin  slips  of  board,  turned  up  in  front,  and  are  highly  pol 
ished."  '  This  is  the  toboggan,  or  Amerind  sled  without  runners, 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mus. 

ENCLOSED    CANADIAN    TOBOGGAN    OR    TRAVELLING    SLED 
From  Porcupine  River,  Alaska.     Length  about  8  ft.:  width,  14  in.;  height  of  body,  18  in. 

developed  and  used  in  the  region  lying  between  that  occupied  by 
the  Eskimo  and  about  the  northern  limit  of  the  United  States. 
Dogs  were  attached  to  the  toboggan  by  some  tribes,  as  the  Tinne, 
who  also  used  the  dogs  in  summer  as  pack  animals.  The  tobog 
gan,  however,  was  usually  pulled  by  men,  and  its  object  was  the 
transportation  of  a  load  which  would  otherwise  need  to  be  carried. 
It  was  made  of  a  single  thin  plank,  or  of  two,  fastened  together 
on  the  upper  surface  with  battens,  and  having  the  forward  end 
turned  up  and  over  like  a  letter  C  and  fixed  in  this  position  by 
rawhide  cords  attached  properly  to  the  first  cross  batten,  and  some 
times  a  rawhide  line  is  also  carried  back  to  the  last  batten  to  give 
additional  strength.  The  toboggan  is  now  in  common  use  among 
the  whites  of  America,  especially  the  Canadians. 

In  pulling  the  toboggan  over  the  snow  the  traveller  would 
sink  deep  and  become  tired  with  only  ordinary  foot  covering,  so 
the  Amerind  invented  a  shoe  expressly  for  snow  travel.  This  is 

1  O.  T.  Mason,  "  Primitive  Travel,"  Rep.  Nat.  Mus.,  p.  566  ;  see  also 
p.  564;  and  Turner,  in  the  Eleventh  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  307. 


280  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


familiar  to  almost  everybody,  but  a  brief  de 
scription  will  be  added  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  may  not  have  seen  it.  There  are  two 
kinds  of  snow-shoe  ;  those  represented  by 
the  Norwegian  ski,  made  of  wood,  long  and 
slender,  and  not  used  in  America  before 
their  introduction  from  Europe.  The  only 
wooden  shoe  recorded  is  an  Eskimo  one 
made  in  the  same  shape  as  their  others. 
The  other  kind  of  snow  -  shoe 1  is  the 
Amerind  one  made  by  bending  to  an  oval 
shape  a  slender  piece  of  wood  for  a  frame, 
and  filling  the  interval  with  rawhide  net 
ting  ;  and  it  was  in  use  all  over  North 
America,  where  snow  remained  for  any 
length  of  time.  Among  some  tribes  these 
shoes  were  "  rights  and  lefts,"  but  as  a  rule 
they  were  interchangeable.  They  are  gen 
erally  the  shape  of  a  long,  pointed  oval,  but 
some  are  almost  round.  There  are  two  cross 
bars  to  hold  the  frame  in  shape,  and  also  to 
form  supports  for  the  toe  and  heel.  Some 
shoes  were  four  or  five  feet  long  and  seven 
or  eight  inches  wide,  and  turned  up  at  the 
forward  end,  while  others  were  short  and 
broad  and  not  turned  up,  the  interval  be 
tween  being  filled  by  a  series  in  great  variety. 
The  foot  is  held  in  position  by  suitable 
thongs  or  straps.  These  shoes  are  now  in 
common  use  by  the  whites. 

In  summer  the  means  of  travel,  before 
the  horse  came  with  the  European,  were, 
on  land,  nothing  more  than  a  good  pair  of 
legs,  but,  on  the  water,  it  was  different. 
There,  many  of  the  Amerinds  were  at  home, 
for  they  had  some  of  the  most  admirable 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


'See  O.  T.  Mason,  "Primitive  Travel,"  Rep. 
ESKIMO  SNOW-SHOE,        Nat.  Mus.,  pp.  381-410  ;  Eleventh  Ann.  Rept.  Bu. 
POINT  BARROW,  ALASKA.    Eth.,  pp.  308-312;  Ninth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth., 
Vs  PP-  344-352. 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    281 


small  boats  ever  devised.  Chief  of  these,  for  lightness 
is  the  birchbark  ca 
noe,1  though  the  Es 
kimo  kayak  is  not  far 
behind.it.  The  birch- 
bark  canoe  is  made  in 
various  sizes  and  in 
different  tribes  has  va 
riations,  but  the  type 
is  the  same  every 
where.  There  is  a 
slender,  well  -  made 
frame  of  wood,  con 
sisting  of  ribs,  gun 
wales,  and  stiffening 
strips,  over  which  the 
bark,  which  has  pre 
viously  been  sewed 
together,  is  stretched. 
The  bow  is  a  trifla 
broader  across  the 
beam  than  the  stern, 
but  both  are  pointed. 
The  bark  covering  is 
rendered  water-tight, 
where  there  are  holes 
or  seams,  with  pine 
gum.  The  paddle  is 
similar  to  the  paddle 
in  use  everywhere  by 
the  Amerinds,  having 
a  sort  of  T-shaped  top 
to  the  handle,  and 
being  about  five  feet 

1  For  details  of  con 
struction  see  Turner, 
Eleventh  Ann.  Rept.  Bu. 
Eth.,  p.  305  ;  and  Hoff 
man,  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  292. 


and  grace, 


282 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


long  and  four  to  six  inches  wide.  This  kind  of  canoe  was  made 
wherever  there  was  birchbark  and  water  to  float  it.  Another  form 
of  boat  which  was  universal  was  the  dugout  canoe.  This  varied  in 
size  and  shape  according  to  locality,  and  was  always  hollowed  out 
of  a  single  tree,  by  fire  and  by  gouging.  When  completed  it  was 
spread  open  wider,  so  that  one  of  these  boats  has  the  appearance  of 
being  from  a  larger  tree  than  is  the  case.  The  finest  dugout 
canoes  are  those  of  the  North-west  coast,  where  |  they  are  con 
structed  from  cedar  trees  of  huge 
proportions.  One  of  these  canoes, 
made  by  the  Haidas,  now  in  the 
American  Museum  in  New  York, 
is  almost  a  ship  and  could  be 
navigated  in  stormy  waters.  The 
Haida  canoes  are  often  elaborately 
carved.  Farther  up  the  coast  the 
Tlinkits  are  experts  likewise  in 
canoe  building  and  in  the  man 
agement  of  them.  Their  ca 
noes  are  also  hollowed  from 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


UMIAK    OF    THE    CENTRAL    ESKIMO 
The  Alaska  umiak  has  no  oars  and  is  more  pointed 

single  logs.  Many  of  them  are  small,  being  barely  large  enough  for 
two  persons.  Some  have  a  peculiar  projection,  a  point  sticking  out 
from  the  lower  part  in  line  with  the  place  where  the  keel  would 
be  if  they  had  one,  and  also  another  at  the  top,  rather  .square  ; 
that  is,  the  wedge-like  end  is  hollowed  out  in  the  middle. 
Either  end  is  sent  forward,  but  the  prong  end  usually  first.  It 
seemed  as  if  this  projection  might  be  intended  to  ward  off  ice,  for 
it  is  in  the  regions  of  Yakutat  and  Glacier  bays  that  it  is  the  dom- 


Weapons,   Armour,    Implements,   Transportation    283 

inant  type  ;  and  there  ice  is  always  floating  from  the  glaciers.  At 
Prince  William  Sound  the  baidarka,1  or  kayak,  comes  into  use. 
This  is  certainly  the  perfection  of  a  canoe.  The  frame  is  admi 
rably  made,  being  tied  together  and  covered  with  walrus  hide,  or 
sealskin,  and  the  boat  rests  on  the  sea  seeming  scarcely  to  sink 
into  it.  The  umiak  is  the  boat  for  travelling  and  general  trans 
portation.  In  it  the  whole  family,  or  even  two  or  three  families, 
with  all  their  trappings,  journey  about — dogs,  children,  packages, 
and  adults  all  combined.  In  the  sunlight  its  rich,  translucent 
yellow  colour  is  beautiful,  and  when  filled  with  the  good-natured, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


Frame 
ESKIMO    KAYAKS 


The  framework  is  tied  together  and  covered  with  walrus  or  other  hide.     Sometimes,  as  in  the 
Aleut  kayaks,  there  are  two  or  three  hatch-holes 

ruddy-cheeked  Eskimo,  clad  in  soft  and  elegant  furs,  the  picture 
formed  is  one  that  is  remembered  ever  after.  In  the  Eastern 
regions  it  is  termed  the  woman's  boat.  They  are  usually  about 
thirty  feet  long,  five  or  six  wide,  and  thirty  inches  deep.  The 
ends  are  both  rather  pointed,  and  the  bottom  is  flat.  Some 
times  there  will  be  fifteen  or  twenty  persons  in  one  of  the  umiaks 
at  the  same  time.  The  frame  is  on  the  same  general  principle  as 
all  other  boats — that  is,  a  combination  of  certain  ribs,  thwarts, 
braces,  etc.  All  these  pieces  are  lashed  together,  and  when  the 
skin  covering  is  on,  the  umiak  is  a  staunch  and  excellent  craft, 
albeit  it  is  entirely  open.  The  cover  is  laced  on,  and  in  winter 

1  Baidarka  is  the  Russian  term  used  at  Kodiak  and  along  the  Alaska 
peninsula.     Baidar  —  umiak  ;  baidarka  —  kayak. 


284  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


it  is  removed  and  stored  away  till  the  waters  are  open  once  more, 
when  it  is  soaked  in  the  sea  to  render  it  soft  and  again  stretched 
in  place. 

The  umiak  l  has  a  sail  of  the  square  sort,  made  in  these  days 
out  of  cotton,  though  formerly  of  seal  intestine,  which  is  attached 
to  a  yard.  The  mast  is  some  twelve  feet  high.  The  paddles  are 
about  five  feet  long  and  six  inches  wide,  though  there  are  smaller 
ones  also.  Sometimes  oars  are  used  as  well  as  the  paddles  in 
navigating  the  umiak.  The  kayak  is  made  in  the  same  way  by 
stretching  skins  over  a  wood  frame  tied  together  most  dexterously. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
METHOD  OF  ATTACHING  OARS  TO  UMIAK 


METHOD  OF  TYING  FRAME  OF  KAYAK 


The  navigator  sits  in  a  hatchway,  as  the  kayak  is  entirely  cov 
ered,  and  a  sort  of  apron  tied  around  his  waist  and  around  the 
coaming  renders  the  boat  water-tight.  It  is  said  some  of  the 
Alaskans  will  turn  a  somersault  in  the  water,  coming  up  on 
the  opposite  side. 

Besides  the  boats  mentioned  there  were  others  on  the  conti 
nent  made  in  different  ways,2  but  these  are  the  chief  ones  and  serve 
to  show  that  the  Amerind  was  ready  to  adapt  himself  to  water 
when  occasion  demanded.  Taken  all  in  all,  his  weapons,  armour, 
implements,  and  his  transportation  methods  show,  as  other  things 
do,  that  he  was  a  progressing,  thinking  being,  with  a  good  brain 
directing  his  operations. 

1  For  details  of  kayak  and  umiak  construction,  see  Murdoch,  Ninth 
Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  328  ;  Boas,  Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  527  ;  Tur 
ner,  Eleventh  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  235  ;  see,  also,  for  hunting  weapons 
and  methods,  "Aboriginal  American  Zob'techny,"  by  Otis  Tufton  Mason, 
American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  i.,  No.  i,  1899. 

'2  The  Omahas  made  one  out  of  dried  bison  hides,  branches,  and  saplings. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
THIN  PLATE  OF  COPPER  WROUGHT  BY  REPOUSSE  METHOD,  ILLINOIS  MOUND 

CHAPTER   X 

MINING,    METALLURGY,    AND    SCIENCE 

MINING  operations  were  carried  on  in  different  parts  of  the 
continent,  but  in  a  primitive,  limited  way.  Some  of  the 
most  extensive  was  the  mining  for  flint  with  which  to 
make  stone  implements,  mentioned  before.  The  mining  was 
done  by  means  of  fire  and  cold  water  alternately  applied,  and 
this  was  the  method  used  in  all  mining  operations  on  the  conti 
nent,  so  far  as  is  now  known,  except  in  the  steatite  or  soapstone 
mining.  But,  even  in  Europe,  until  the  invention  of  gunpowder, 
the  fire  method  was  employed,  and  in  one  or  two  localities  where 
fuel  is  plenty  it  is  said  to  be  still  considered  an  economical  manner 
of  extracting  ore.  In  the  Far  West,  where  the  rocks  and  ledges 
were  more  exposed,  veins  were  discovered  where  the  calcedony,  or 
jasper,  or  other  stone  desired  for  stone  implements  could  be  easily 
knocked  out.  It  was  then  carried  away  to  some  comfortable  site 
and  wrought  into  shapes.  Along  Western  rivers  one  occasionally 
comes  upon  a  spot  where  the  ground  is  littered  with  "  chips," 
rejects,  broken  arrow-heads,  and  also  perfect  ones,  the  latter  prob- 

285 


286  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

ably  having  been  dropped  and  lost  ;  or  possibly  in  some  way  not 
being  satisfactory  to  the  arrow-makers. 

In  working  out  soapstone  vessels  of  the  larger  kind,  the  min 
ing  and  rough  shaping  were  frequently,  if  not  always,  accom 
plished  at  one  and  the  same  time.1  Holmes  describes  the  methods 
employed  as  follows:  "  When  a  sufficient  area  of  the  solid  stone 
had  been  uncovered,  the  workmen  proceeded  with  pick  and  chisel 
to  detach  such  portions  as  were  desired.  If  this  surface  happened 
to  be  uneven,  the  projections  or  convexities  were  utilized,  and  the 
cutting  was  not  difficult  ;  if  the  rock  was  massive  and  the  surface 
flat,  a  circular  groove  was  cut,  outlining  the  mass  to  be  removed, 
and  the  cutting  was  continued  until  a  depth  was  reached  corre 
sponding  to  the  height  of  the  utensil  to  be  made  ;  then,  by 
undercutting,  the  nucleus  was  detached  or  so  far  severed  that  it 
could  be  broken  off  by  means  of  sledges  or  levers.  If  the  stone 
happened  to  be  laminated,  a  circular  groove  was  cut  through  at 
right  angles  to  the  bedding,  and  the  discoid  mass  was  removed 
without  the  need  of  undercutting.  ...  A  notable  feature  of 
the  cutting  out  of  these  masses  of  stone  is  the  attendant  shaping 
of  the  mass  which  was  rudely  sculptured  as  the  work  went  on,  the 
contour  of  the  vessel  being  approximately  developed.  Although  I 
have  seen  no  good  examples  of  this  class,  it  is  confidently  stated  by 
others  that  rude  nodes  were  carved  at  opposite  ends  of  the  mass  as 
incipient  handles,  and  that  excavation  of  the  bowl  was  begun,  so 
that  when  severed  from  the  stem  the  vessel  was  already  well  under 
way."  2  These  vessels  were  usually,  in  their  largest  size,  about 
two  feet  long,  one  foot  or  more  in  width,  and  about  seven  or  eight 
inches  deep.  Some  are  nearly  circular.  The  tools  used  were  of 
stone,  wood,  bone,  and  horn,  but  chiefly  of  stone  in  the  form  of 
chisels  and  picks.  Some  of  the  trenches  formed  in  cutting  out  this 
material  were  twenty-five  feet  wide,  sixteen  feet  deep,  and  seventy 
feet  long.  One  described  by  Fowke  near  Culpeper,  Va.,  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  diameter  and  of  considerable  depth, 
being  filled  with  water  and  debris.  Pits  of  varying  depth  and 
size  from  which  steatite,  jasper,  rhyolite,  and  other  materials  have 

1  Mines  of  steatite  vessels  have  been  found  on  Santa  Catalina  Island, 
California,  as  well  as  on  the  Eastern  United  States  coast.     Charles  F.  Holder 
describes  the  Santa  Catalina  mines  in  the  Scientific  American  for  December 
1 6,  1899. 

2  W.  H.  Holmes,  Fifteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  pp.  108,  109. 


(...   ,:>'    m-'-'.  y    '  '•";.  i!1.:.  ''< 
x-^- •'••:'.&.'.:  //•   •  v. /;•/•;;•• 


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'?••':>&  ^'1 


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L^f:^l*m  i!w^:y.;M  f! 

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,W  .*:':•  •vm^fJ^fc.ME^,  ;,:^; 


mmtwiiM  - 

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^i      :\i:«';W!     ,'M      ^fe^^V\'        i.feW*     «P'T'/    IL1'*^'7"    • 

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:   V    '•      "  •        fe^/--X^^m^  '-  '   •          ^  \\V.'^>liIr-.;:;A,^::^ 

-. :   •  •  v  •  v^w'  '<  «x >%=•-. -Jaw,:       ;-         .  yV-.-  - •  ••i'V;-1-' \r-r-- 

^'     ',:.  /'/  "fa-:^-V^  X>'j':' •/'  ' 
•V-J,'^-.;-        ,•'."  \Wi\*£t***®EBI&^  v-  ••;:.-,l'.»>^^/^'s,  i  1:W;*: 

^V-^'\  •-,  ,    ^: 


^f:^^^-i'^;> 

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»/'•  '^le^irT/v  >v    -'  /  ".* 


f  I  »5,0 


Siw^^lP^') 

Pfe  EN  :  Mv 


•'X    vm-v  ^>^:-.\  .-' 

•vx<    V        VX.ff    .   •«  •     v *-.?-:>.     •   J&":. 


^;i(-;im\s 


-^  . 


288  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

been  extracted  by  the  Amerinds  are  found  in  different  parts  of 
the  continent.  In  Yucatan  there  are  numerous  well-like  holes  in 
the  ground  that  were  "  pockets  "  of  zahcab,  and  when  this  valued 
material  was  taken  out  the  cavity  was  either  left  or  transformed 
into  the  strange,  well-like  affairs,  carefully  walled  up  and  covered 
over,  called  chultunes,  the  object  of  which  is  often  a  mystery.1 

Native  metals,  when  discovered  by  the  Amerinds,  were  mined 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  flint,  the  largest  workings  known 
being  those  at  the  Lake  Superior  copper  mines,  where  copper  of 
remarkable  purity  continues  to  furnish  this  continent  and  the 
world  with  an  abundant  supply.  Doubtless  most  of  the  copper 
used  on  the  North  American  continent  prior  to  the  Discovery  was 
derived  from  these  mines  and  distributed  through  the  channels  of 
Amerind  trade.  Bowlders  or  nuggets  of  this  pure  copper  were 
treasured  in  the  homes  of  the  tribes  of  the  northern  lake  region 
when  first  encountered  by  the  whites,  and  the  location  of  the  out 
crops,  both  on  the  mainland  and  on  the  islands,  appears  to  have 
been  well  known  to  the  Amerinds  of  that  time.  An  Algonquin 
chief  presented  Champlain  with  a  piece  of  copper  a  foot  long  and 
told  him  there  were  "  large  quantities"  where  he  had  obtained 
this.  He  also  said  "  that  they  gathered  it  in  lumps,  and,  having 
melted  it,  spread  it  in  sheets,  smoothing  it  with  stones."  2  The 
mining  operations  in  the  Michigan-Minnesota  copper  region 
were  evidently  carried  on  for  a  very  long  period  in  the  laborious 
Amerind  way,  and  in  consequence  at  the  time  they  were  first  no 
ticed  had  the  appearance  of  extensive  operations  by  a  few  miners, 
leading  to  the  erroneous  supposition  that  they  had  been  worked 
by  some  other  race. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  before  the  arrival  of  white  men, 
and  even  to  this  day  in  certain  localities,  copper  appeared  about 
as  valuable  as  gold.  If  the  Lake  Superior  mines  had  been  gold 
instead  of  copper  it  would  not  greatly  have  enhanced  the  value 
of  the  product  in  the  opinion  of  the  Amerinds  of  the  locality  and 
their  customers.  They  worked  their  way  down  into  the  rock 
which  carried  native  copper  and  broke  off  nodules  and  fragments 
as  they  proceeded.  Some  of  the  pits  were  eighteen  or  twenty  feet 
deep,  and  in  one  case  a  huge  bowlder  of  copper  was  found  lying 

1  For  a  description  of  these  chultunes,  see  "The  Chultunes 
Memoirs  of  Pcabody  Museum. 

'2  Chaniplaiu's  Voyages,  Prince  Society  edition,  vol.  ii.,  p.  236. 


Mining,    Metallurgy,   and  Science 


289 


on  oak  supports  several  feet  from  the  bottom.  This  mass  had 
been  denuded  of  every  projection,  and  the  supposition  generally 
has  been  that  it  was  being  elevated  to  the  surface  by  means  of  the 
wood  underpinning.  This  may  have  been  the  case,  but  it  is  pos 
sible  that  the  underpinning  was  inserted  as  the  miners  went  down 
on  the  vein,  because  the  bowlder  was  too  large  to  cut  or  handle. 
They  therefore  left  it  where  found and  proceeded  to  mine  under  and 
around  for  the  smaller  pieces.  The  large  one  was  ten  feet  long, 
three  feet  wide,  nearly 
two  feet  thick,  and 
weighed  over  six  tons. 
Other  bowlders  of  great 
er  weight  have  been 
found,  moved,  as  is 
supposed,  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  orig 
inal  bed,  but  the  same 
hypothesis  might  apply 
to  these  that  is  suggest 
ed  above.  The  famous 
Ontonagon  bowlder,1 
which  was  found  on 
the  river  of  that  name, 
is  a  copper  mass  weigh 
ing  somewhere  near  five 
tons  and  has  been  the 
cause  of  much  specula 
tion  as  to  how  it  came  u.  s.  BU.  Eth. 
there.  The  probability  CHIPPED  SPADE 

is   that   it   was   left   by 

glacial  action  on  the  surface,  not  far  from,  if  not  on,  the  spot  where 
found.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Amerinds  would  take  the  trouble 
to  move  so  large  a  mass  far.  If  they  had  possessed  the  power  of 
cutting  it  up,  they  would  have  done  it  near  its  source,  and  the 
same  remark  applies  to  the  bowlders  of  copper  that  it  has  been 
supposed  they  were  trying  to  lift  to  the  surface.  Furthermore,  if 
the  Ontonagon  bowlder  were  transported  by  them  to  its  position, 
and  if  the  large  bowlders  in  the  mines  were  destined  for  the 

1  Now  in  the  National  Museum,  Washington.     See  article  on  the  sub 
ject  by  Charles  Moore,  Report  of  U.  S.  Museum,  1895. 


290  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

surface  and  transportation  in  bulk,  we  ought  to  find  somewhere 
else  records  or  evidences  of  the  presence  of  great  bowlders,  but 
nothing  of  the  kind  has  been  found;  no  such  large  copper  mass 
has  been  discovered  in  any  ruined  Amerind  town,  or  on  any 
Amerind  village  or  town  site.  It  seems  that  the  Ontonagon  bowl 
der  was  a  natural  deposit.  These  huge  masses  of  copper  were 
troublesome  to  modern  miners  with  the  most  approved  machinery. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  Amerinds  of  that  region 
were  miners,  any  more  than  that  all  the  Amerinds  of  any  other 
region  were  equally  developed  or  skilful,  or  all  did  the  same 
things.  The  Navajos  of  the  South-west  are  some  of  them  ex- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    STONE    MAUL. 


pert  silver-workers,  yet  their  neighbours,  for  the  most  part,  can 
do  little  or  nothing  in  that  line.  But  that  is  no  reason  for  sup 
posing  the  Navajos  to  be  a  race  distinct  and  apart  from  the  rest. 
No  more  were  the  workers  of  the  Lake  Superior  copper  mines  any 
different  from  their  neighbours  in  general.  They  had  a  knack  of 
working  the  native  copper  out  of  the  ground,  and  they  worked  it 
just  as  others  mined  for  flint.  When  they  ceased  it  was  probably 
because  they  had  worked  out  all  the  easy  places  they  could  find, 
or  that  their  trade  fell  off  owing  to  the  introduction  by  the  Euro 
peans  of  manufactured  articles  of  copper  and  iron. 

In  one  of  the  ancient  pits  a  hemlock  with  395  annular  rings  was 
growing,  and  this  has  led  to  the  supposition  that  the  mines  were 
worked  before  the  time  of  Columbus.  The  excavations  undoubt 
edly  extended  over  a  long  period  ;  from  before  Columbus  to  after 
Champlain.  But  it  was  over  three  hundred  years  after  Columbus 
before  the  first  explorations  of  the  Lake  Superior  region  were 


Mining,    Metallurgy,   and  Science  291 

made  by  General  Cass,  and  hence  the  tree  had  time  to  grow  since 
that  date.  On  the  whole,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  suppos 
ing  that  anyone  but  Amerinds  worked  these  mines;  Amerinds 
lastly  of  Algonquin  stock,  though  other  stocks  probably  worked 
them  also. 

The  method  of  utilising  this  copper  in  the  Northern  regions, 
that  is,  north  of  Mexico,  was  as  primitive  as  the  method  of  extract 
ing  it  from  the  ground.  It  seems  often,  perhaps  generally,  to  have 
been  hammered  into  shape  cold  and  then  finished  by  grinding. 
Doubtless  they  knew  how  to  melt  it  out  of  the  rock  on  a  small 
scale,  allowing  it  to  drop  or  run  into  a  mould  scraped  into  the  sur 
face  of  a  flat  stone,  somewhat  the  shape  of  the  article  to  be  made, 
which  would  afterward  be  finished  with  hammering  and  grinding. 

The  objects  found  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  formed  of  copper, 
which  are  probably  the  unaided  work  of  the  Amerinds,  are  chisels, 
arrow-  and  spear-heads,  knives,  and  perhaps  certain  thin  plates 
wrought  with  designs  in  the  repousse  method.  No  camp  utensils 
or  other  objects  have  been  found  demanding  a  knowledge  of  the 
properties  of  the  metal  sufficient  to  work  it  into  articles  requiring 
a  quantity  of  copper  to  be  manipulated  at  once.  Gushing  main 
tains  '  that  the  production  of  thin  plates  was  an  easy  matter  and 
he  shows  how  the  Zunis  made  them,  but  admitting  that  the 
Amerinds  of  the  Mississippi  valley  could  make  these  plates,  it  does 
not  prove  that  they  did,  for  as  copper  in  various  forms  was  very 
early  an  article  of  trade,  it  is  possible  that  they  used  the  imported 
article.  Gushing  explains  how  the  Zunis,  by  a  process  of  alternate 
hammering  and  annealing  and  then  grinding,  produced  thin  plates, 
which  being  pressed  with  a  sharp  tool  would  receive  a  design. 
This  pressed-out  portion  could  be  ground  down  with  a  flat  slab  to 
sever  it  from  the  ragged  edges  of  the  sheet,  and  also  to  make 
any  desired  perforations.  The  resulting  turned-tip  edges  could  be 
hammered  flat  and  they  then  would  be  as  if  cut  by  a  shear. 

Gushing  explains  how  in  the  South-west  ore  was  quarried  and 
roasted  in  an  open  fire,  and  then  smelted  in  a  sort  of  oven,  the 
copper  or  other  metal  appearing  finally  at  the  bottom.  Primitive 
furnaces  of  this  kind  he  found  in  the  Salt  River  valley.  The 
singular  thing  about  it  is  the  almost  total  absence  of  metal  objects 
in  the  ruins  of  the  South-west.  Aside  from  several  small  copper 

'Frank  Hamilton  Gushing,  "Primitive  Copper  Working,  An  Experi 
mental  Study,"  American  Anthropologist,  O.  S.,  vol.  vii.,  No.  i,  1894. 


292  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

"  hawk  "  bells  found  in  the  Salado  and  other  Arizona  ruins,  I  have 
not  heard  of  any  metal  object  that  was  not  positively  European 
being  found  in  any  mound  or  ruin  of  the  South-west,  with  one 
exception.1  In  1875  a  man  in  my  employ  in  southern  Utah  told 
me  that  several  years  before  that  time  his  uncle  either  had  found 
in  a  mound  in  southern  Nevada  or  northern  Arizona,  or  had 
obtained  from  some  natives  who  found  it,  a  small  gold  image, 
which  he  had  melted  down  for  the  value  of  the  metal  it  con 
tained.  At  the  time  I  thought  this  tale  belonged  with  that  of  the 
"lost  mine,"  but  I  am  now  inclined  to  see  a  fact  in  it.  It  is  quite 
within  bounds  that  one  of  the  small  Mexican  or  Chiriquian  figures 

may  have  found  its  way  up  into  this 
region. 

If  there  had  been  a  wide  know 
ledge  of  copper  and  other  metal- 
working  in  the  South-west  in  the 
olden  time,  there  ought  to  be  signs 
of  it  in  the  ruins  other  than  an 
Side  oven,  and  even  the  latter  has  been 

SMALL  FIGURE  OF  A  FROG    IN    BASE       rard         found.         CorOliado      aild      lllS 
METAL,   PLATED  WITH  GOLD,  .  .    1  _  .  j      «„•       i-    .       r 

CHIRIQUI  chroniclers,  Espejo,  and  all  the  list  of 

early  writers  on  that  region,  never, 

so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  note,  mention  copper  or  any  other 
metal  articles.  In  fact,  from  the  testimony  of  literature,  history, 
and  actual  excavation  among  the  ruins  so  far  as  carried  at  present, 
we  should  conclude  that  none  of  the  people  of  that  region  knew 
about  metals  or  the  manner  of  working  them  before  the  year  i54O.3 
New  Jersey  also  furnished  the  Amerinds  some  copper  and  those 
living  in  the  Atlantic  region  had  ornaments,  arrow-heads,  and  pipes 
supposed  to  have  been  made  from  it  or  from  Lake  Superior  copper. 
Brinton  attributes  the  scarcity  of  specimens  in  our  collections  to 
"  its  being  bought  up  and  melted  by  the  whites,  rather  than  to  its 
limited  employment."  3  A  few  examples  have  been  found,  but 
if  they  had  been  plentiful  there  should  be  discovered  many  im- 

1  Fewkes  found  several  of  these  bells  in  his  excavations  around  the 
headwaters  of  the  Gila. 

*  During  my  stay  with  the  Mokis  and  in  their  vicinity  and  in  all  the  long 
time  I  have  been  observing  them,  I  never  saw  nor  heard  of  a  single  object 
in  metal  wrought  by  them. 

;1  Brinton,  The  Lenape,  p.  52. 


Mining,   Metallurgy,   and  Science 


293 


piemen ts  antedating  the  arrival  of  the  whites.  On  Brinton's 
hypothesis  it  would  be  necessary  to  assume  that  there  were  few 
made  before  the  coming  of  the  whites  or  they  could  not  have  been 
so  easily  bought  up.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  finds  in  copper 

articles     compared    with    the    area 
occupied  are   astonishingly  few,   if 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

Painted  design  in  black,  representing  a 
sea  monster  with  bear's  head 


Painted  design  representing  a  hawk 


COPPERS    FROM   THE   NORTH-WEST   COAST.       TV 

These  are  made  of  thin  sheets  of  copper,  and  grow  valuable  by  sale  or  exchange,  according 
to  peculiar  customs.     Some  rise  as  high  as  $5000  or  $6000 

the  natives  turned  off  the  amount  of  work  some  writers  would 
have  us  believe. 

On  the  North-west  coast  an  article  of  great  importance  and 
value  is  the  "  copper."  In  former  days  these  coppers  were  made 
of  native  metal  obtained  from  the  mines  of  that  region,  and  they 
must  have  been  made  by  cold  hammering  in  the  way  that  Gush 
ing  describes.  To-day  they  are  made  of  metal  obtained  from 
the  whites.  The  coppers  are  thin  plates  of  a  peculiar  shape  ; 
the  nearest  common  thing  that  they  resemble  is  a  gauntleted 
glove  with  the  fingers  cut  off  and  with  the  gauntlet  the  top. 


294  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Across  the  wrist  runs  a  ridge  from  one  side  to  the  other,  and 
from  the  middle  of  this  another  ridge  extends  downward  to  the 
bottom,  thus  making  with  the  first  the  shape  of  a  letter  T  below 
the  flaring  part.  "The  top  is  called  the  face,"  says  Boas  in  his 
valuable  and  interesting  account  of  the  Kwakiutls,  "the  lower 
part  the  hind  end.  The  front  of  the  copper  is  covered  with  black 
lead,  in  which  a  face  representing  the  crest  animal  (totem)  of  the 
owner  is  graven.  These  coppers  have  the  same  function  which 
bank  notes  of  high  denominations  have  with  us.  The  actual 
value  of  the  piece  of  copper  is  small  but  it  is  made  to  represent  a 
large  number  of  blankets,  and  can  always  be  sold  for  blankets. 
A  white  blanket  at  fifty  cents  is  the  unit.  The  value  is  not 
arbitrarily  set  but  depends  upon  the  amount  of  property  given 
away  in  the  festival  at  which  the  copper  is  sold.  The  oftener  a 
copper  is  sold  the  higher  its  value."  '  Every  copper  has  its  own 

special  name,  representing  its  peerless 
quality,  or  an  animal ;  as,  the  killer 
whale,  the  bear  face,  beaver  face,  etc. 
As  ability  to  destroy  valuable  property 
amongst  these  people  distinguishes  the 
great  and  wealthy,  these  valuable  coppers 
are  demolished  piecemeal  till  only  the 
portion  with  the  T  upon  it  remains. 
Sometimes  all  the  fragments  are  bought 
up  by  another  person,  who  rivets  them 
together  and  the  copper  then  has  a  greater 
price  than  ever.  A  broken  copper  is  a 
more  important  piece  of  property  than  a 
whole  one,  because  the  possession  of  it 
shows  that  its  owner  is  rich  enough  to 
destroy  property.  These  plates  are  in  use 
from  Yakutat  to  Comox.  Sometimes  a 
copper  is  cast  into  the  sea. 

In  the  South-west  it  is  not  the  house 
building  Pueblo  who  is  the  metal-worker 
par  excellence  but  the  semi-pastoral  Na- 
vajo,  who,  besides  his  flocks  and  herds, 
possesses  a  wealth  of  silver  ornaments  that  runs  up  into  the  thou 
sands.     Silver   and   copper    ornaments    are  turned    out    by    the 
1  F.  Boas,  "The  Kwakiutl  Indians,"  Rept.  Nat.  Mus.,  1895,  p.  344. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

HOLLOW    SILVER    BEADS   OF 
NAVAJO  MAKE,  ARIZONA 

Actual  size 


Mining,    Metallurgy,   and  Science  295 

native  silversmith  not  only  for  his  own  people  but  for  whites 
also,  and  a  considerable  trade  exists  between  the  Navajos  and 
other  Amerinds  in  this  native  jewelry  as  well  as  in  blankets. 
If  you  desire  to  have  an  article  made,  you  give  the  silver  it  is 
to  contain,  usually  in  dollar  pieces,  and  an  equal 
quantity  as  wages.  The  objects  manufactured 
are  globular  and  semi-globular  buttons  ;  brace 
lets  like  a  letter  C  in  form  and  shape,  buckles, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

Engraved  button  Bracelet 

Usually  about  2^  inches  long 

NAVAJO    SILVER   WORK,    ARIZONA 

rings,  plate  for  the  bridle,  tobacco  canisters,  flat  buttons,  beads,  and 
various  discs,  and  other  ornamental  objects.  These  are  often  en 
graved  quite  artistically,  and  sometimes  elaborately.  Copper  seems 
to  be  a  valued  metal  for  ornaments,  and  I  have  seen  copper  brace 
lets  on  a  Navajo  woman  made  exactly  the  same  as  silver  ones. 
The  Navajo  silversmith  is  up  to  a  trick  or  two  as  well  as  his  white 
neighbour.  At  Manuelito  there  was  a  white  trader  who  often  sold 
Navajo  bracelets  to  passengers  from  the  railway  trains  that  ran 
within  a  hundred  feet  or  less  of  his  door,  and  he  was  a  man  who 
prided  himself  on  "  square  "  dealing.  One  day  a  gentleman  who 
had  purchased  several  silver  bracelets  rushed  in  full  of  ire,  de 
manding  the  return  of  his  money  for  the  worthless  bracelets  which 
he  threw  upon  the  counter.  They  were  copper.  The  trader  took 
down  a  string  containing  a  number,  from  which  the  returned  ones 
had  been  originally  taken,  and  which  he  had  purchased  for  silver, 


296  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

and  found  that  every  one  was  copper.  They  had  been  thinly 
washed  over  by  the  Navajo  smith  with  silver. 

It  has  sometimes  been  suggested  that  the  Navajos  learned 
their  metal-working  from  the  Pueblos,  but  if  so  it  was  a  lesson  ob 
tained  in  quite  modern  times,  for  the  Pueblos  themselves,  as  has 
been  mentioned,  appear  to  have  known  nothing  about  the  work 
ing  of  metals  before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  The  art  of  metal- 
working  both  among  the  Navajos  and  the  Pueblos  is  probably  a 
modern  acquisition.  Washington  Matthews,  writing  about  1883, 
says  :  "  Old  white  residents  of  the  Navajo  country  tell  me  that 
the  art  has  improved  greatly  within  their  recollection."  It  is 
likely  that  the  Navajos,  having  a  keen  perception  of  mechanical 
matters,  had  wrought  copper  to  a  limited  degree  and  that  through 
their  intercourse  with,  and  absorption  of,  Pueblo  tribes,  this  tend 
ency  was  developed  by  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  in  this  line 
which  the  Pueblos  acquired  from  Mexicans  who  followed  in  the 
train  of  the  early  Spanish  explorers  ;  but  this  skill  was  not  given 
a  real  impetus  till  after  the  South-west  fell  into  our  possession, 
when  tools  and  trade  rapidly  developed.2 

When  in  1871  I  encountered  Navajos  for  the  first  time,  on 
their  way  to  trade  with  the  Mormons,  I  do  not  remember  seeing 
them  have  any  silver  ornaments.  This  was  so  soon  after  their 
liberation  from  government  confinement  following  their  war  with  us 
that  they  were,  naturally,  very  poor.  But  if  they  had  before  pos 
sessed  much  silver  they  would  have  concealed  it,  and  by  the  time  I 
saw  the  ones  referred  to  they  would  again  have  been  wearing  it 
and  trying  to  trade  it  for  horses,  which  they  sadly  needed.  The 
Navajo  silver-work  is  distinguished  by  an  extremely  artistic  qual 
ity.  Their  tools  and  appliances  are  very  rude  and  simple.  As 
their  method  of  operation  is  probably  similar  to  that  of  Amerinds 
who  have  not  been  observed  as  closely,  I  will  condense  here  some 
of  the  important  details  as  given  by  Washington  Matthews.3 
Only  a  few  have  attained  a  degree  of  proficiency  that  enables 

1  Washington   Matthews,   "Navajo  Silversmiths,"   Second  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  171. 

2  The  tribes  of  the  North-west  made  some  gold  and  silver  ornaments,  and 
at  Sitka  to-day  there  is  a  jewelry  establishment  kept  by  a  native  Tlinkit,  who 
makes  most  of  his  own  silverware. 

3 Washington  Matthews,  "Navajo  Silversmiths,"  Second  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  172. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

KXVAKIUTL    CHIEF    HOLDING    HIS    COPPER,   NORTH-WEST    COAST 

The  value  of  a  copper  is  expressed  in  white  single  blankets  of  American  make  at  50  cents  each.  It 
is  rated  according  to  the  amount  of  property  given  away  at  the  festival  where  the  copper  is 
sold,  and  each  sale  adds  to  its  value  proportionally.  He  who  can  break  a  copper  and  cast  away 
the  fragment  is  considered  great 

297 


298  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

them  to  make  large  hollow  articles,  like  flasks  and  the  like,  but 
there  are  many  who  can  turn  out  bracelets,  buttons,  buckles,  etc. 
Their  appliances  consist  "  of  a  forge,  a  bellows,  an  anvil,  crucibles, 
moulds,  tongs,  scissors,  pliers,  files,  awls,  cold  chisels,  matrix  and 
die  for  moulding  buttons,  wooden  implements  used  in  grinding  but 
tons,  wooden  stake,  basin,  charcoal,  tools  and  materials  for  solder 
ing  (blow-pipe,  braid  of  cotton  rags  soaked  in  grease,  wire,  and 
borax),  materials  for  polishing  (sandpaper,  emery  paper,  powdered 
sandstone,  sand,  ashes,  and  solid  stone),  and  materials  for  whiten 
ing  (a  native  mineral  substance  —  almogen  —  salt  and  water).  " 
The  forge  is  built  up  with  several  old  boards,  an  old  box,  or,  when 
these  cannot  be  procured,  of  sticks.  The  nozzle  of  the  bellows, 
being  wood,  is  kept  back  from  the  fire  several  inches  and  a  contin 
uation  built  in  the  mud  with  which  the  fire-bed  is  constructed. 
The  bellows  is  a  tube  of  goatskin,  a  foot  long  and  ten  inches  in 
diameter,  distended  by  two  or  three  wooden  hoops.  The  back  of 
it  is  a  disc  of  wood  with  a  valve  in  it.  The  nozzle  is  of  four  pieces 
of  wood  tied  together  and  having  a  hole  an  inch  square  through 
the  centre,  the  outside  being  dressed  off  till  it  is  approximately 
round.  Any  old  piece  of  iron,  like  the  king-bolt  of  a  wagon,  driven 
into  a  log  serves  for  an  anvil,  though  in  the  absence  of  this  a  hard 
stone  is  sufficient.  They  make  their  own  crucibles  of  clay,  gener 
ally  three-cornered,  about  two  inches  in  every  dimension,  and 
baked  hard.  l<  The  moulds  in  which  they  cast  their  ingots,  cut  in 
soft  sandstone  with  a  home-made  chisel,  are  so  easily  formed  that 
the  smith  leaves  them  behind  when  be  moves  his  residence." 
"  Metallic  hemispheres  for  beads  and  buttons  are  made  in  a  con 
cave  matrix  by  means  of  a  round-pointed  bolt."  Several  matrices 
are  made  on  a  single  bar  of  iron  and  a  bolt  that  will  fit  the  small 
est  is  sufficient  to  work  all.  They  prepare  charcoal  by  building  a 
large  fire,  and  when  it  is  "  reduced  to  a  mass  of  glowing  coals  they 
smother  it  well  with  earth  and  leave  it  to  cool."  Blowpipes  are 
made  by  themselves  out  of  brass  wire  hammered  flat  and  then  bent 
into  a  tube.  The  engraving  and  chasing  of  the  objects  made  are 
done  with  the  sharpened  end  of  a  file,  or  any  other  suitable  sharp 
piece  of  steel.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  the  Navajo  sil 
versmith  is  dependent  to  a  very  great  extent  on  materials  and 
tools  obtained  from  the  whites,  and  without  these  the  practice  of 
his  art  would  be  difficult.  Schools  for  mechanical  processes  like 
dyeing,  metal-working,  etc.,  would  accomplish  much  good  among 


• 


Mining,    Metallurgy,   and  Science  299 

these  people.  They  could  readily  be  taught  to  use  the  lathe  and 
other  tools,  and  would  become  good  metal-workers. 

Prescott  says  of  the  Mexicans  :  ;'  They  were  as  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  mineral  as  with  the  vegetable  treasures  of 
their  kingdom.  Silver,  lead,  and  tin  they  drew  from  the  mines 
of  Tasco  ;  copper  from  the  mountains  of  Zacotollan.  These  were 
taken,  not  only  from  the  crude  masses  on  the  surface,  but  from 
veins  wrought  in  the  solid  rock,  into  which  they  opened  extensive 
galleries.  .  .  .  Gold,  found  on  the  surface,  or  gleaned  from 
the  beds  of  rivers,  was  cast  into  bars,  or,  in  the  form  of  dust,  made 
part  of  the  regular  tribute  of  the  southern  provinces  of  the  em 
pire."  '  Their  mining  was  doubtless  carried  on  by  the  fire-and- 
water  process  used  by  the  Northern  people,  while  gold  from  the 
river  beds  was  possibly  obtained  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
I  have  been  told  the  Amerinds  of  Peru  get  it.  Selecting  a  river 
that  was  known  to  be  rich  in  the  metal,  a  series  of  stone  "  riffles  " 
would  be  arranged  in  the  best  place  at  the  very  lowest  stage  of  the 
water.  Then  when  the  freshets  came  and  swept  the  gravel  across 
these  rude  affairs  the  gold  would  remain  lodged  there  and  on  the 
subsidence  of  the  stream  could  be  readily  taken  out.  There  was 
undoubtedly  a  vast  quantity  of  gold  in  the  possession  of  the  Mexi 
cans  and  Central  Americans,  but  this  fact  does  not  signify  that 
they  conducted  mining  operations  on  a  large  or  continuous  scale, 
for  the  metal  had  been  accumulating,  in  the  shape  of  idols  and 
ornaments,  for  centuries.  There  was  little  lost  or  worn  away,  as 
they  did  not  use  it  as  a  general  medium  of  exchange.  Their 
plumes  in  their  head-dresses  were  often  set  in  gold  ;  rings  of  gold 
were  worn  in  their  ears  and  on  their  arms,  and  the  same  metal  was 
wrought  into  a  great  many  forms  of  ornament. 

Cortes  ordered,  says  Valentini,  eight  thousand  arrow-heads  of 
copper  and  they  were  "  made  ready  for  delivery  in  a  single  week." 
It  seems,  therefore,  the  Aztecs  were  accustomed  to  handling  copper 
in  considerable  quantities.  It  is  said  they  made  a  mixture  of  cop 
per  and  tin  which  they  used  for  tools,  and  certain  implements  and 
objects  are  found  with  a  percentage  of  tin  in  them,  but  neverthe 
less  their  keenest  weapons  and  their  most  serviceable  tools  were 
made  of  obsidian,  which  was  also  the  case  with  the  Mayas.  Their 
hardened  copper  was  useful  for  some  purposes,  but  they  were  un 
able  to  harden  it  sufficiently  to  sustain  an  edge.  For  cutting 
1  Prescott,  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  138. 


300  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

stone  in  two  they  used,  as  the  Eskimo  does  to-day,  a  thin  blade 
and  sand.  In  their  case  the  blade  was  copper  tempered  with  tin, 
and  in  the  Eskimo's  case  it  was  formerly  probably  a  thin  blade  of 
bone,  while  now  it  is  an  old  steel  saw.  Silver  as  well  as  gold  and 
copper  was  known  to  the  tribes  of  the  Central  regions  of  America, 
and  lead  also  was  one  of  their  metals,  though  little  was  done  with 
it.  There  is  a  tendency  to  exaggerate  the  mechanical  as  well 
as  the  art  skill  displayed  in  objects  that  were  made  on  this  conti 
nent,  before  the  whites  came,  or  that  were  not  discovered  till 
recently.  The  reason  for  this  seems  to  be  that  we  love  mystery 
and  it  is  too  tame  to  refer  the  finds  to  the  ordinary  "Indian," 
who  in  the  popular  mind  has  no  ability  in  any  direction,  so  they 
are  ascribed  to  that  "  mysterious  "  race  that  we  have  tried  in  vain 
to  find  some  evidence  of  besides  mystery.  Daniel  Wilson  gives 
an  example  of  how  this  mystery  bubble  bursts  on  the  slightest 
accurate  investigation.  Some  tools  were  found  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  Brockville,  Canada,  of  which  Dr.  Reynolds,  who 
exhibited  them,  stated:  "There  is  also  a  curious  fact,  which 
these  relics  appear  to  confirm,  that  the  Indians  possessed  the  art 
of  hardening  and  tempering  copper,  so  as  to  give  it  as  good  an 
edge  as  iron  or  steel.  This  ancient  Indian  art  is  now  entirely 
lost."  When  these  Brockville  relics  were  submitted  to  careful 
examination  it  appeared  that  they  were  not  "  different  in  any 
material  respect  from  the  native  copper  of  Lake  Superior."  2  This 
was  all  very  well,  but  Wilson  was  not  satisfied  with  Reynolds's 
ascribing  these  relics  to  the  "present  Indian  race"  and  goes  on 
to  say  :  ' '  The  evidences  of  antique  sepulture,  however,  are  un 
mistakable  ;  and  other  proofs  suggest  a  different  origin,"  and  he 
proceeds  to  call  in  Squier's  aid  and  ascribes  them  forthwith  to  our 
fabulous  friends,  the  "  Moundbuilders."  One  of  his  proofs  was  a 
terra-cotta  mask  found  with  the  articles,  in  which  he  saw  a  skill 
beyond  that  of  the  "  Indians,"  but  which  in  reality,  judging  by 
the  illustration  he  gives  of  it,  is  nothing  remarkable.  Yet  Wilson 
continues  :  "  It  cannot  admit  of  doubt  that  in  them  [the  mining 
operations]  we  look  on  the  traces  of  an  imperfectly  developed  yet 
highly  interesting  native  civilisation,  pertaining  to  centuries  long 
anterior  to  the  discovery  of  America  in  the  fifteenth  century,"  * 

1  Daniel  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man,  vol.  i.,  pp.  213-215. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  216. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  218. 


Mining,   Metallurgy,   and  Science  301 

etc.  This  conclusion  he  is  assisted  to  by  certain  quotations  from 
some  of  the  old  natives  and  from  Claude  Allouez.  These  convince 
him  ;  but  a  little  later  on  he  quotes  Alexander  Henry's  mention 
of  his  visit  to  the  Ontonagon,  who  says  :  "  I  found  this  river 
chiefly  remarkable  for  the  abundance  of  virgin  copper  which  is  on 
its  banks  and  in  its  neighbourhood.  The  copper  presented  itself 
to  the  eye  in  masses  of  various  weight.  The  Indians  showed  me 
one  of  twenty  pounds.  The}7  were  used  to  manufacture  this  metal 
into  spoons  and  bracelets  for  themselves."  '  If  they  made  brace 
lets  and  spoons,  they  probably  made  other  articles,  "  melting  the 
lumps  and  spreading  it  in  sheets ' '  to  smooth  it  with  stones,  as  the 
chief  described  to  Champlain. 

The  Chiriquians  seem  to  have  possessed  a  skill  in  metallurgi 
cal  operations  unsurpassed  by  any  other  people  on  the  continent. 
Whether  they  used  gold  dust  in  quills,  and  T  shapes  of  tin  or 
copper  for  currency  as  did  the  Mexicans,  does  not  appear,  but  they 
were  skilled  in  metal-working.  They  understood  smelting,  alloy 
ing,  and  plating,  and  apparently  were  extremely  skilful  at  cast 
ing.  As  before  noted,  no  weapons  or  implements  have  been  found 
of  metal,  all  the  metal  objects  being  ornaments,  and  "  almost  ex 
clusively,"  says  Holmes,  "  pendent  ornaments."  "  They  were,  for 
the  most  part,  cast  in  moulds,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  repre 
sent  animal  forms.  A  few  bells  are  found,  all  of  which  are  bronze. 
Pieces  formed  of  alloyed  metal  are  usually  washed  or  plated  with 
gold."  2  Many  of  these  valuable  relics  of  the  past  have  been  dis 
posed  of  for  their  money  value  and  duly  melted  up  to  be  made  into 
something  modern.  The  gold  is  usually  alloyed  with  copper  in 
varying  proportions,  though  pure  metals  were  also  used.  From 
the  fact  that  the  alloy  is  so  variable  it  would  seem  that  the  combi 
nation  already  existed  before  it  came  into  the  Chiriquian  hands  ; 
that  is,  it  was  perhaps  a  natural  combination. 

Holmes  believes  almost  all  these  metal  objects  were  cast  in 
moulds,  as  noted,  but  he  mentions  other  processes  by  which  they 
may  have  been  made.  They  have  the  appearance  of  having  been 
modelled  in  some  plastic  material,  and  then  coated  with  clay,  when 
by  the  action  of  heat  the  wax  runs  away,  leaving  the  hollow  clay 
as  a  mould  to  receive  the  metal.  This  is  the  cire  perdue  process. 

1  Daniel  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man,  vol.  i.,  p.  222. 

2  W.  H.  Holmes,   "Ancient  Art  of  the  Province  of  Chiriqui,"  Sixth 
Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  186. 


302 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


Small  figures  of  resin,  in  all  respects  modelled  like  those  found  in 
metal,  have  been  discovered  in  the  graves.  This  seems  to  add  to 
the  probability  of  a  Chiriqui  acquaintance  with  the  cire perdue  pro 
cess.  Another  method  suggested  is  that  the  various  metallic  parts 
of  a  figure  were  enclosed  in  a  clay  matrix  and  then  heated  till  the 
parts  melted  and  joined,  but  this  appears  to  be  too  uncertain  and 
difficult  to  have  warranted  its  practice.  Still  another  method  ad 
vanced  is  the  coating  of  a  wax  figure  with  sheet  gold  and  melting 
the  wax,  when  a  hollow  gold  figure  would  be  the  result.  This  is 
possible  but  not  probable.  Yet  one  more  suggestion  is  that  the  gold 
was  reduced  to  an  amalgam  with  mercury,  and  thus  modelled,  when 
the  mercury  being  driven  off  by  heat  the  gold  figure  would  remain. 

One  difficulty  with  this  the 
ory  seems  to  be  that  there  is 
no  evidence  that  the  Chiri- 
quians  knew  mercury.  As 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

TRIPLE  BELL  OR  RATTLE  OF  GOLD  FROM 
NEAR  PANAMA 


BRONZE  MEXICAN  BELL 


many  of  the  objects  are  washed  or  plated  with  pure  gold,  it  would 
seem  that  the  pure  gold  was  the  most  difficult  to  obtain,  and  that,  as 
before  stated,  the  gold-copper  alloy  was  a  natural  one.  There  is 
neither  engraving  nor  carving  on  these  objects  ;  and  the  objects 
themselves  are  the  same  crude  productions  that  are  indicative 
of  pure  Amerind  art  everywhere  on  the  continent.  Some  are  more 
crude  than  others,  but  all  Amerind  sculpture,  modelling,  and  carv- 


Mining,   Metallurgy,   and  Science  303 

ing  are  essentially  rude  and  primitive.  In  the  form  and  artistic 
execution  of  the  Chiriqui  objects  of  gold  and  copper  we  may  be 
positive  that  there  is  no  European  influence,  whatever  there  may 
be  in  the  method  of  production.  It  is  probable  that  the  objects 
are  entirely  native,  and  they  offer  another  lesson  that  the  tribes  of 
North  America  were  everywhere  working  and  inventing,  and 
gradually  conquering  the  secrets  of  nature  just  as  our  ancestors 
did  and  just  as  we  are  still  doing  to-day  ;  some  doing  more,  others 
less  ;  some  being  quick,  and  others  clumsy,  ignorant,  and  dull.  The 
bells  are  usually  of  bronze,  having  the  shape  of  our  common  sleigh- 
bell,  and  are  frequently  gold-plated.  The  bells  found  in  Arizona 
are  of  this  description  but  not  plated. 

Besides  their  sciences  of  mining  and  metallurgy,  the  Amer 
inds  understood  some  others,  like  the  manufacture  of  glue  and 
cement,  the  production  of  paints  and  dyes,  and  astronomical 
reckonings.  True,  some  of  these  are  more  properly  classed  as 
arts,  but  requiring  knowledge  that  may  be  called  scientific,  they 
may  be  considered  under  that  head.  Paints  were  usually  obtained 
from  clays  and  ochres.  I  once  traced  to  its  source  the  red  paint 
formerly  used  by  the  Amerinds  of  southern  Utah  and  found  it  in 
the  second  great  bend  of  the  Colorado  River,  about  three  thousand 
feet  below  the  surface  and  about  two  thousand  feet  above  the  river, 
as  the  canyon  is  there  about  five  thousand  feet  deep.  The  paint 
was  in  a  cave  the  mouth  of  which  opened  on  a  little  gulch,  and  the 
entrance  was  so  small  and  narrow,  and  in  such  hard  rock,  that  we 
could  barely  wriggle  our  way  on  our  bellies,  along  the  eighteen  feet 
of  passage,  before  we  reached  the  cavern,  thirty  feet  long,  fifteen 
wide,  and  high  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  erect  in.  There  were 
several  side  passages  leading  farther,  but  this  seemed  to  be  the  main 
cave,  and  all  over  the  walls  were  the  marks  of  the  sharp  sticks  with 
which  the  Amerinds  cut  out  the  ochre.  Our  guide  stated  that  it 
was  customary  to  send  in  the  boys  and  squaws  after  the  paint. 
The  ochre  was  of  a  rich  red,  but  no  match  for  the  red  lead  and 
vermilion  obtained  by  trade  with  the  whites.  The  remote  and 
difficult  position  of  this  cave  and  its  narrow  and  repelling  en 
trance  show  how  eager  the  natives  were  to  secure  paint.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit,  however,  the  mouth  was  considerably  over 
grown  with  small  brush,  proving  that  for  several  years  no  visit  had 
been  made.  In  every  region  there  were  special  places  for  obtain 
ing  paints,  and  Brinton  states  that  in  New  Castle  County,  Dela- 


304  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

ware,  the  vicinity  of  streams  now  known  as  White  Clay  and  Red 
Clay  creeks  furnished  red,  white,  and  blue  clays  in  such  abund 
ance  that  they  were  called  by  the  natives  Walamink,  or  Place  of 
Paint.1  Charcoal  was  used  for  black. 

Of  dyes  they  had  a  fair  assortment,  but  they  were  not  able  to 
obtain  the  brilliant  hues  they  now  secure  by  means  of  the  "  Dia- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

BRONZE  BELLS,   PLATED   OR  WASHED  WITH  GOLD,  CHIRIQUI 
These  were  cast  in  moulds.     The  largest  is  i%  in.  high  and  K  in-  diameter 

mond"  and  other  aniline  dyes.  A  black  dye  was  made  by  the 
Navajos  from  the  twigs  and  leaves  of  the  aromatic  sumac,  a  native 
yellow  ochre,  and  the  gum  of  the  pinon.2  These  same  Amerinds 
have  three  different  processes  for  dyeing  yellow.  The  first  pro 
duces  a  lemon  yellow,  the  second  an  old  gold,  and  the  third  still  a 
different  shade. 

Red  dyes  are  also  made  by  the  Navajos  ;  and  the  Mokis  possess 
the  skill  to  produce  several  colours,  one  being  a  deep,  rich  blue. 
These  processes  are  all  too  long  to  admit  of  description  here.3  The 
Lenape  and  other  Eastern  Amerinds  used  the  juice  of  the  wild, 
sweet-scented  crab  apple  to  fix  the  dyes,  while  among  the  Mokis 
the  liquid  generally  used  is  urine.  It  must  have  required  long 
and  careful  experiment  before  these  people  acquired  their  knowl 
edge  of  dyeing,  for  some  of  the  preparations  are  rather  intricately 

1  Brin ton,  The  Lenape,  p.  53. 

2  Washington   Matthews,  "  Navajo  Weavers,"  Third  Ann.  Rept.  Bu. 
Eth.,  p.  376. 

3  Squier  describes  a  Tyrian  purple  of  various  shades  secured  in  Nicara 
gua  from  the  murex.  shellfish  by  a  slow  and  tedious  process;  see  his  Nicara 
gua,  p.  286. 


Mining,    Metallurgy,   and  Science  305 

compounded,  but  here  is  evidence  once  more  that  the  Amerind  was 
by  no  means  a  vagabond,  but  was  constantly  at  work  devising  and 
inventing.  Glue  the}-  made  from  fish  in  some  localities,  and  in 
others  by  boiling  down  the  skin  from  the  head  of  the  bison  or  elk, 
or  the  hoofs  of  animals.  Cement  for  attaching  arrow-heads  and 
for  other  purposes  was  made  by  combining  pine  gum  with  other 
substances.  In  all  these  mixtures  and  combinations  the  propor 
tions  were  either  guessed  at  or  measured,  never  weighed,  for  there 
was  no  scale  or  balance  in  use,  so  far  as  now  known,  in  North 
America,  though  certain  round  stones  from  Mexico  in  Madrid 
have  been  supposed  to  be  weights. 

Remarkable  progress  had  been  made  in  many  tribes  in  the 
matter  of  calculating  time,  and  the  Mayas  and  Mexicans  had  ad 
vanced  so  far  that  they  were  able  to  calculate  the  length  of  the 
year  with  accuracy.  What  implements  they  employed  is  not 
known,  but  they  were  probably  of  wood  and  stone,  the  latter  of 
the  form  of  the  calendar  stone,  before  mentioned.  Other  tribes  far 
ther  north  made  their  calculations  in  a  less  perfect  way,  yet  they 
did  and  do  keep  time  records.  The  Sun  priests  of  the  Mokis  use 
"what  ma)7  be  called  a  calendar  stick,"  says  Fewkes.  "These 
sticks  are  about  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  and  are  divided  into  two 
parts,  one  section  being  round,  the  other  flattened  on  one  side. 
The  round  section  is  girt  by  fifteen  shallow  parallel  grooves,  and 
occupies  about  a  third  of  the  whole  length  of  the  stick.  The  re 
maining  two-thirds  of  the  stick  have  a  number  of  parallel  grooves 
or  notches  cut  upon  the  flattened  surface.  Five  of  the  latter 
grooves,  which  are  situated  at  equal  distances,  are  deeper  than  the 
remaining,  and  between  each  pair  there  are  four  smaller  parallel 
grooves  arranged  at  equal  distances.  The  space  in  which  these 
grooves  are  cut  occupies  about  one-half  of  the  flat  portion  of  the 
stick.  The  remaining  half,  or  that  more  distant  from  the  round 
section,  is  divided  into  two  parts,  which  are  separated  by  a  rectan 
gular  space,  in  the  centre  of  which  there  is  a  depression  called  the 
na-ta-l-tci.  On  one  side  of  the  depression  there  are  three  notches, 
on  the  other  seven."  *  The  Eastern  Amerinds  computed  time  in 
their  own  several  ways,  some  computing  twelve,  others  thirteen 
moons  to  the  year,  usually  reckoning  from  one  planting  time  to 
another.  The  Dakotas,  Chipeways,  and  others  reckoned  by  winters. 
In  the  Zufii  country,  still  existed  a  few  years  ago,  if  it  does 
1  Dr.  J.  Walter  Fewkes,  Journal  of  American  Folk-Lore,  vol.ii.,  p.  151. 


;o6 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


not  to-day,  a  primitive  astronomical  station.  It  is  a  rude  little 
structure  containing  an  erect  slab  of  sandstone  adorned  with  the 
circular  face  of  the  sun,  and  it  is  used,  as  it  was  long  ago,  for  de 
termining  the  Zuni  chronology. 

The  Aztec  year  had  eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each  and 
that  of  the  Mayas  was  the  same.  The  Maya  week  had  thirteen 
days,  and  the  days  were  counted  from  one  to  thirteen  continuously 
throughout  the  year — that  is,  each  month  did  not  begin  with  i 
but  with  whatever  number  happened  to  fall  on  that  day  ;  it  might 
be  2  or  5  or  8  or  13  or  in  fact  any  number  up  to  13.  The  eighteen 
months  gave  them  only  360  days,  but  they  intercalated  at  the  end 
of  each  year  the  five  days  necessary  to  round  it  out.  At  least  so 
the  early  Spanish  writers  state,  though  Thomas,  who  has  given 
close  attention  to  this  subject,  has  said  that  he  felt  doubtful  on  that 
point.1  Prescott  states  without  question,  concerning  the  Aztecs  : 
"  Five  complementary  days,  as  in  Egypt,  were  added,  to  make  up 

the  full  number  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five. 
They  belonged  to  no 
month  and  were  regard 
ed  as  peculiarly  unlucky. 
A  month  was  divided 
into  four  weeks  of  five 
days  each."  a 

The  six  hours  over 
the  365  days  which  we 
make  up  in  our  leap  year 
the  Aztecs  allowed  to  run 
to  the  end  of  their  fifty- 
two  year  cycle,  when  they 
intercalated  it  all  at  one 
time,  the  actual  period 
being  twelve  and  one 
half  days.  This  brought  them  "within  an  almost  inappreciable 
fraction,"  says  Prescott,  "to  the  exact  length  of  the  tropical  year, 
as  established  by  the  most  accurate  observations."  The  Aztecs 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Sixth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  271. 

2  Prescott,  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  in. 

•''Ibid.,  p.  112.  The  intercalation  of  these  i2l/2  or  13  days  is  denied  by 
Payne,  History  of  the  Neiv  World,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  294-316  et  seq.,  but  Mrs. 
Zelia  Nuttall  and  other  eminent  scholars  are  certain  they  were  intercalated. 


hide  view 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

SMALL    METAL    FIGURE,    CHIRIQUI 
Copper-gold  alloy 


Mining,  Metallurgy,  and  Science  307 

had  a  second  calendar  used  by  the  priests  for  keeping  their  own 
records  and  making  their  own  calculations,  and  doubtless  the 
Maya  had  the  same  practice. 

The  Cakchiquel  year  consisted  of  366  days.  That  of  the  Maya 
was  365.  The  former,  therefore,  says  Goodman,  "  could  have  no 
fixed  date  for  its  beginning,  relative  to  solar  or  terrestrial  phe 
nomena,  but  must  revolve  regularly  through  the  seasons. 
The  year  might  begin  at  the  summer  or  the  winter  solstice,  at  the 
vernal  or  the  autumnal  equinox,  or  any  other  period."  l 

A  great  Maya  event,  which  Goodman  cites,  was  "  the  observ 
ance  of  the  280,  Sooth  year  of  their  era.  .  .  .  Nearly  all  the 
other  dates  in  the  inscriptions  of  Copan  and  Quirigua  either  lead 
up  to  or  recede  from  it.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  last  quarter 
of  their  grand  era,  the  completion  of  which,  it  is  perhaps  needless 
to  say,  they  did  not,  as  a  nation,  live  to  see."  1  But  when  we 
touch  this  subject  of  .chronology  it  at  once  opens  up  a  vast  and 
complicated  field  of  investigation.  Goodman  goes  on  to  say  : 
"  How  account  then  for  such  an  immense  period?  .  .  .  The 
most  reasonable  answer  that  suggests  itself  is  that  they  had  a 
juster  appreciation  of  the  antiquity  of  the  earth  than  most  nations 
have  had,  and  that  they  began  their  chronology  with  the  supposed 
date  of  its  creation.  ...  I  look  upon  the  Maya  chronological 
scheme  as  ranking  among  the  most  marvellous  creations  of  the 
human  intellect."  1 

1  Goodman,  Biologia  Centrali  Americana,  part  viii.,  pp.  5,  8. 


SILVER  PLATE  WITH  SPANISH  COAT  OF  ARMS, 
from  a  mound  in  Mississippi 


U.S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MORI    RATTLE    OF    ANIMAL    HOOFS. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MUSICAL,   INSTRUMENTS,    MUSIC,    AMUSEMENTS,    AND   GAMES 

THK  popular  conception  that  there  is  no  fun  in  red  men  is  erro 
neous.  All  of  them,  far  from  being  taciturn,  silent,  morose, 
and  lacking  desire  for  amusement  other  than  scalping  or 
torturing  captives,  are  full  of  humour  and  are  fond  of  fun.  To 
strangers,  however,  they  are  often  silent.  In  every  village  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  amusement,  and  while  the  race  is  deficient  in  musi 
cal  instruments,  and  the  music  they  produce,  if  it  can  be  designa 
ted  by  that  term,  is  usually  apart  of  some  ceremonial,  they  do  sing 
and  the  singing  is  accompanied  by  rattles  and  drums.  These  instru 
ments,  with  a  sort  of  flute  or  flageolet  and  bells  and  whistles, 
make  the  sum-total  of  their  musical  apparatus.  No  stringed  in 
strument,  it  was  believed,  was  known  on  the  North  American  con 
tinent  before  the  Discovery,  though  recently  Lumholtz  has  found 
a  primitive  musical  bow  among  the  Huichols  in  Mexico  that  seems 
to  show  no  outside  influence.  Their  drums  were  usually  made  out 
of  a  hollow  log  and  were  of  various  sizes,  though  some  tribes  also 
used  a  sort  of  tambourine-drum  formed  by  stretching  a  piece 
of  hide  over  a  hoop.  In  the  case  of  the  Mokis,  the  large  drum  was 
made  by  stretching  hide  over  the  ends  of  a  hollow  log  by  means  of 
strings  on  the  outside  running  from  the  edge  of  one  skin  to  that  of 

308 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     309 


the  other,  zig-zag.  These  drums  are  about  twenty  inches  in  diam 
eter  by  some  three  feet  long,  and  the  ones  I  have  seen  had  an  ap 
pearance  of  age  that  seemed  to  indicate  a  remote  origin.  Rattles 
are  frequently  made  from  deer  hoofs,  or  from  hoofs  of  similar  ani 
mals,  and  also  from  turtle  shells,  and  garments  are  trimmed  with 
hoofs  so  that  the  movements  of  the  wearer  cause  them  to  strike 


Gourd,  Ojibwa 
U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


Earthenware  rattle  from  Chirlqui. 
AMERINDIAN    RATTLES 


Tin,  Ojibwa 


together  with  a  musical  sound.  Sometimes  the  hoofs  are  attached 
in  groups  of  three  or  more  to  the  ends  of  a  short  stick  which  is 
shaken  to  produce  the  desired  sound.  This  is  a  form  specially  in 
vogue  among  the  Tlinkits,  and  these  rattles  are  one  of  the  articles 
of  trade  with  the  tourists  in  the  North-west.  Another  form  is  a 
gourd  or  clay  globe  containing  pebbles  or  something  similar. 
Rattles  of  this  kind  are  common  in  the  ceremonials  of  the  Mokis. 
Bells,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  were  made  by 
tribes  of  the  Central  American  region  of  copper  in  the  so-called 
"  hawk's-bell  "  shape,  but  it  is  not  absolutely  certain  that  this 


io 


The   North-  Americans  of  Yesterday 


form  of  bell  was  not  derived  from  European  contact.1     No  other 
form  of  bell  was  known  to  any  of  the  natives. 

Whistles  were  made  of  pottery  and  wood  and  of  human  and 
other  bones,2  and  were  similar  to  our  common  whistles  with  one  or 
more  holes  in  the  tube  for  changing  the  note.  The  flute 
was  of  wood,  generally  of  cedar,  which  is  considered 
a  sacred  wood.  It  was  eighteen  or  twenty  inches 
long  and  was  often  ornamented  with  carving 
and  tufts  of  feathers,  etc.  In  Mexico,  some 
were  made  of  terra  cotta. 

It  is  certain  that  the  sounds  pro 
duced  on  these  various  instruments 
would   in   no  way   suggest  or 
resemble  what  is  understood 
by  music  among  people 
of  European  origin, 
and     it     is     also 
probable    that 
our    music 
when 
first 


heard  by  Amerinds  seems  to  them  more 
like  wailing  and  lamentation  than  sounds 
of  pleasure.  I  remember  an  evening  long 
ago,  in  Arizona,  when  we  had  the  interest 
ing  companionship  of  several  intelligent  u-  s-  Bu-  Eth- 
Navaj  o  chiefs,  who  entertained  us  by  sing-  OMAHA  LARGE  FLUTE 

ing     accompanying    themselves    by  drum-     Made   of  red  cedar.     Flutes   were 

ming  on  the  bottom  of  one  of  our  camp        ^J^/  eagle 
kettles.     At  length  someone  of  our  party 

exclaimed,   "  Now  let's  give  them  Home,  Sweet  Home,"  and  this 
song  was  accordingly  rendered  in  a  way  that  should  have  moved 

1  This  bell  is  supposed,  however,  to  have  developed  here  from  the  rattle. 

2  The  Peabody  Museum  contains  an  exhibit  of  forty-five  whistles  made 
of  bone,  all  found  together  in  one  basket.     They  were  wrapped  with  split 
reed  and  were  seven  to  ten  inches  in  length. 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     311 

the  savage  to  tears,  but,  though  the  firelight  was  brilliant,  I  failed 
to  detect  any  ;  indeed  their  expression  appeared  to  resemble  that 
which  a  professional  musician  of  our  own  race  might  have  exhib 
ited.  They  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  a  single  selection,  and 
they  politely  said  Bu6no.  The  Navajos  have  a  peculiar  drum, 
the  basket  drum,  described  by  Washington  Matthews.1  It  is  a 
bowl-shaped  basket  made  according  to  special  rules  and  rites,  and 
inverted  is  used  as  a  drum  in  certain  ceremonials,  being  beaten  by 
a  stick,  also  manufactured  in  a  special  way,  and  according  to  long- 
established  religious  rites.  Whenever  a  ceremony  is  completed  this 
stick  is  always  pulled  apart  during  an  appropriate  song,  and  its 
fragments  "  deposited,  with  prayer  and  ceremony,  in  the  fork  of  a 
cedar  tree  or  other  secure  place."  It  is  made  from  yucca  leaves, 
four  being  the  prescribed  number,  and  every  one  of  these  must  be 
absolutely  free  from  blemish.  One  from  each  cardinal  point  of  the 
compass  is  necessary,  and  the  making  of  the  drumstick  from  them 
is  a  serious  matter,  even  the  rejected  fragments  being  disposed  of 
in  some  safe  place  with  a  benediction  : 

"Thus  will  it  be  beautiful. 
Thus  walk  in  beauty,  my  grandchild." 

"  In  none  of  the  ancient  Navajo  rites  is  a  regular  drum  or  tom 
tom  employed, ' '  says  Matthews.  ' '  The  inverted  basket  serves  the 
purpose  of  one. ' ' 

"The  musical  instruments,"  says  Bandelier,  "which,  while 
still  in  use  in  Mexico,  are  known  to  antedate  the  Conquest,  are  but 
three  in  number,  one  of  which  is  already  falling  into  oblivion.  It 
is  the  tozacatl  (sounding-cane),  described  to  me  as  a  long  cane,  bent 
round  like  an  Alpine  horn.  I  never  saw  one,  but  its  sound  is  said 
to  be  a  sonorous  bellowing.  The  other  is  the  chirimia.  It  is  made 
of  dark  brown  wood,  called  tepehuaje,  brought  to  Cholula  from 
Matamoras-Yzucar,  or  near  Atlixco.  Its  length  is  0.46  metre 
(about  1 8  inches)  and  its  width  at  the  mouth  is  0.06  metre  (about 
3  inches).  It  has  eleven  holes  irregularly  arranged,  and  the 
mouthpiece  is  a  thin  plate  of  horn  on  a  stem  of  brass.  The  noise 
produced  by  this  instrument  is  a  fit  accompaniment  to  the  shrill 
Indian  voices,  being  horrible  beyond  all  description.  .  .  . 
The  big  drum,  the  tlapan-huehuetl,  was  formerly  made  out 

1  Washington  Matthews,  "The  Basket  Drum,"  American  Anthro 
pologist,  O.  S.,  vol.  vii.,  No.  2,  April,  1894. 


312  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  properly  hollowed,  over  which,  at  one 
end,  a  deerskin  or  some  other  dried  hide  was  stretched.  All  the 
older  authors  make  more  or  less  mention  of  this  instrument,  but 
more  particularly  Bernal  Diez  de  Castillo,  who  says,  when  describ 
ing  the  upper  platform  of 
the  principal  mounds  of 
worship  of  Mexico  :  '  And 
there  they  had  an  exceed 
ingly  large  drum,  which, 
when  beaten,  gave  a  sound 
as  if  from  the  infernal  re 
gions,  which  was  heard  at 
more  than  two  leagues  off, 
and  they  said  that  the  skin 
was  that  of  large  snakes.'  ' 
The  teponaztli  was  a  wood 
en  instrument  with  two 
tongues  that  were  beaten 
with  a  stick.  Conch  shells 
were  also  used  as  musical 
instruments.  Some  of  these 
were  of  very  great  size. 

The  Eskimo  drum  is 
like  a  tambourine,  a  skin 
stretched  over  a  hoop.  Some 
of  the  Chiriqui  whistles 
were  shaped  like  a  top, 
while  others  were  straight 
with  finger  holes.  These 
various  types  were  distri 
buted  over  the  whole  area 
of  the  continent,  the  drum 
and  the  rattle  always  pre 
dominating. 

The    Amerind    singing 
at    first    seems    extremely 
monotonous  to  our  ears  and  the  impression  is  that  all  tribes  sing 
alike,  but  each  stock  has  its  own  methods  and  peculiarities.     A 
foundation  principle  with  all  in  the  men's  singing  seems  to  be  an 
1  A.  F.  Bandelier,  Archaeological  Tour,  p.  150. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

DRUM    OF    TERRA    COTTA,    CHIRIQUI 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     313 

explosive  quality  of  vocalisation — that  is,  violent  explosive  tones 
instead  of,  as  with  us,  tones  long  drawn  out.  The  Moki  seems 
generally  to  sing  nothing  but  "ho,  ho,  ho,  ho,  he,  he,  he,  he, 
hay,  hay,  hay,"  etc.,  and  he  has  quite  a  different  rhythm  from  the 
Ute,  while  the  singing  of  the  Navajo,  when  the  singer  opens  out 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


MENOMINEE    TAMBOURINE    DRUM 
A  common  form  with  many  tribes 

all  the  stops,  is  more  like  the  voice  of  a  cat  in  the  back  yard  than 
any  other  sound  in  civilisation  that  I  can  think  of.  Farther  north 
the  sounds  change  again  :  the  Tlinkit  vocalisation  suggests  death 
by  strangulation. 

Fillmore  states  that  the  Navajo  songs  were  the  most  primitive 
of  any  he  studied.  "  They  form  in  fact  the  connecting  link  be 
tween  excited  howling  and  excited  singing.  The  quality  of  tone 
is  indescribable,  being  more  like  a  yelp  than  anything  else  ;  but  the 
intervals  yelped  are  unmistakably  those  of  the  major  chord  or  of 
the  minor  chord.  The  tone-quality  is  that  of  shouting,  or  even  of 
howling,  but  the  pitch-relations  into  which  they  tend  to  fall  are 


14  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


those  of  the  major  chord.  .  .  .  Some  of  the  Navaho  songs  are 
illustrations  of  melody  so  primitive  as  to  bring  us  very  near  to  the 
beginning  of  music-making.  ...  I  started  my  investigations 
with  the  impression  that  there  might  be  essential  differences  in 
structure  between  the  Indian  music  and  our  own.  I  studied  the 
Indian  music  for  ten  years  with  the  utmost  care  and  thoroughness 
of  which  I  was  capable.  I  have  failed  to  find  one  single  interval 
in  Indian  music  which  we  do  not  use.  It  is  true,  I  have  often 
heard  Indians  sing  these  intervals  out  of  tune  ;  but  this  is  a  phe 
nomenon  by  no  means  confined  to  savage  or  uncivilised  races.  In 
every  such  case,  when  I  was  singing  with  Indians  and  was  able  to 
get  at  their  real  intentions,  I  have  found  that  they  meant  to  sing 

exactly  the  interval  we  should 
sing  in  their  place. 
I  have  also  found  that  in 
crease  of  power  is  almost 
always  accompanied  with  in 
creased  elevation  of  pitch, 
and  diminution  of  intensity 
with  a  lowering  of  pitch, 
seemingly  without  the  Indian 
being  aware  of  it.  ... 
The  evidence  of  the  essential 
unity  of  all  music,  from  the 
most  primitive  to  the  most 
advanced,  is  cumulative.  The 
Navaho  howls  his  song  to 
the  war  gods  directly  along 
the  line  of  the  major  chord  ; 
Beethoven  makes  the  first 
theme  of  his  great  '  Eroica  ' 
symphony  out  of  precisely 
the  same  material.  The 
Tigua  makes  his  '  Dance  of 
the  Wheel '  out  of  a  major 
chord,  and  its  relative  minor  ;  Wagner  makes  Lohengrin  sing 
'  Mein  lieber  schwan '  to  a  melody  composed  of  exactly  the 
same  ingredients.  In  short  there  is  only  one  kind  of  music  in 
the  world."  Like  everything  else  pertaining  to  man,  it  is  a 
matter  of  development  modified  by  circumstances.  Fillmore's 


U.  S.  Hu.  Eth. 

OMAHA   BOX    DRUM 

A  common  form  with  most  tribes.     Originally  made 
from  a  hollow  log 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     315 

excellent  investigation  '  in  this  line  only  proves  again  that  man  is 
the  same  in  all  climes  and  ages  since  first  we  get  track  of  him, 
so  far  as  his  fundamental  make-up  is  concerned.  Variations  and 
differences  are  only  those  which  come  from  a  development  of 
latent  talents  or  possibilities.  He  always  moves,  when  he  moves, 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


SET    OF    PLAYING    STICKS 


along'certain  lines  that  are  prearranged  by  his  constitution  and  his 
environment.  He  may  stop  where  circumstances  direct,  but  he 
will  have  stopped  where  others  stopped  before. 

There  is  always  a  great  deal  of  repetition  in  the  songs.  The 
Amerind  seems  content  to  go  over  and  over  again  the  same  few 
notes.  In  some  tribes  the  poet  and  singer  stands  in  the  interior 
of  a  circle  formed  by  all  the  members  of  the  tribe — men,  women, 
and  children — around  a  cedar  tree  from  which  all  but  the  top 
branches  have  been  removed.  A  time  of  moonlight  is  chosen,  and 
I  remember  well  such  a  night  with  some  Pai  Utes,  of  Arizona. 
The  poet  recited  his  refrain,  then  all  took  it  up  and  repeated  it  in 
song,  circling  round  and  round  the  cedar  with  their  peculiar  shuffle, 
repeating  and  repeating.  I  joined  the  circle  and  the  singing  till  I 
became  tired,  and  finally  left  them  still  enjoying  it.  The  poet 
would  give  out  some  such  stanza  as 

"No  rabbit  kill, 
No  rabbit  eat," 

1  John  Comfort  Fillmore,  "  The  Harmonic  Structure  of  Indian  Music," 
American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  April,  1899.  See  also  Chas.  K.  Wead, 
"The  Study  of  Primitive  Music,"  Am.  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  i. 


316  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

and  it  would  serve  the  purpose  for  a  considerable  time,  when  he 
would  be  obliged  to  announce  a  new  one. 

Mooney  has  translated  some  of  the  songs  of  the  Arapahos  used 
in  the  Ghost  or  Resurrection  Dance,  and  I  give  several  as  speci 
mens  of  their  style  '  : 

"  O,  iny  children  !     O,  my  children  ! 
Here  is  another  of  your  pipes  —  He  eye  ! 
Here  is  another  of  your  pipes  —  He  eye  ! 
I/ook  !  thus  I  shouted  —  He  eye  ! 
Look  !  thus  I  shouted  —  He  eye  ! 
When  I  moved  the  earth  —  He  eye  ! 
When  I  moved  the  earth  —  He  eye  ! 


"  The  sacred  pipe  tells  me  —  E  yahe  eye  ! 
The  sacred  pipe  tells  me  —  B  yahe  eye  ! 
Our  father  —  Yahe  eye  ! 
Our  father  —  Yahe  eye  ! 

We  shall  surely  be  put  again  (with  our  friends)  B  yahe  eye  ! 
We  shall  surely  be  put  again  (with  our  friends)  B  yahe  eye  ! 
Our  father,  B  yahe  eye  ! 
Our  father,  B  yahe  eye  ! 


The  cedar  tree,  the  cedar  tree  ! 

We  have  it  in  the  centre  ! 

We  have  it  in  the  centre  ! 
When  we  dance, 
When  we  dance, 

We  have  it  in  the  centre  ! 

We  have  it  in  the  centre  ! 


"  My  children,  my  children  ! 

It  is  I  who  wear  the  morning  star  on  my  head  ! 

It  is  I  who  wear  the  morning  star  on  my  head  ! 

I  show  it  to  my  children  ! 

I  show  it  to  my  children  ! 

Says  the  father  ! 

Says  the  father ! 


"  With  the  ba-qati  wheel  I  am  gambling  ! 
With  the  ba-qati  wheel  I  am  gambling  ! 

With  the  black  mark  I  win  the  game  ! 
With  the  black  mark  I  win  the  game  !  " 

1  James  Mooney,  "  The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  pp.  994,  995. 


Musical  Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     317 


"  This  (last)  song  is  from  the  northern  Arapaho.  The  author 
of  it  in  his  visit  to  the  spirit  world,  found  his  former  friends  playing 
the  old  game  of  the  baqati  wheel,  which  was  practically  obsolete 
among  the  prairie  tribes,  but  which  is  being  revived  since  the 
advent  of  the  Ghost  Dance.  .  .  .  The  game  is  played  with  a 
wheel  (baqati,  large  wheel)  and  two  pairs  of  throwing  sticks.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  man's  game  and  there  are  three  players,  one  rolling  the 
wheel  while  the  other  two,  each  armed  with  a  pair  of  throwing 
sticks,  run  after  it  and  throw  the  sticks  so  as  to  cross  the  wheel  in 
a  certain  position."  ' 

Among  the  Mokis,  some  of  the  old  men  are  custodians  of  songs, 
according  to  the  societies  to 
which  they  belong.     Such  a 
man  is  leader  of  the  singing. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

Turtle  shell,  with  hoofs  of  goats  or  sheep. 

Fastened  to  the  rear  of  the  right  leg  near 

the  knee  in  dancing 


Painted  gourd  with  wood  handle 


PUEBLO    RATTLES. 


It  is  he  who  knows  the  old  songs.  He  meets  a  lot  of  the 
young  men  at  a  specified  house,  and  placing  an  old  tin  pan 
on  the  floor  to  spit  in  while  smoking  cigarettes,  and  beside  it  a 
candle  for  light,  they  group  themselves  in  a  circle,  sitting  on  the 

1  James  Mooney,  "The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Kept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  pp.  994,  995. 


318  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

floor,  while  the  instructor  takes  his  place  on  a  stool  at  the  large 
double-headed  drum  at  one  end.  He  runs  over  a  passage,  beating 
time  on  the  drum,  and  then  all  join  in  with  a  vigour  that  well- 
nigh  raises  the  roof.  There  was  something  fine  in  the  force  and 
power  with  which  these  songs  were  rendered,  and  it  was  the  only 
time  in  my  experience  that  my  artistic  sense  was  stirred  by 
Amerind  singing.  Later,  on  the  same  evening  as  the  gathering 
mentioned,  when  the  same  young  men  were  rehearsing  further  and 
also  practising  the  dance  with  some  small  girls  in  a  neighbouring 
house,  the  singing  lost  its  fire  and  was  not  at  all  thrilling.  Be 
fore  the  rehearsal  with  the  young  men  the  ' '  choir  master"  rehearses 
by  himself.  From  my  house  at  Tewa,  on  the  "Hast  Mesa,"  I 
could  hear  just  after  dark,  every  evening,  through  the  stone  wall, 
continuous  singing.  It  was  in  the  next  room  or  "house,"  the 
entrance  to  which,  though  on  my  level,  was  around  a  corner  and  not 
connected  in  any  way  with  my  balcony.  I  had  a  ladder  of  my  own. 
I  was  curious  to  see  who  it  was  that  was  so  devoted  to  this  amuse 
ment.  I  mounted  to  my  house-top  by  means  of  steps  on  the  end 
of  a  wall,  and  then  I  could  look  down  my  neighbour's  chimney, 
from  which  little  smoke  and  much  sound  were  arising.  I  could  see 
plainly  the  singer,  an  old  man,  sitting  cross-legged  before  the  fire, 
its  light  softly  illuminating  him,  with  a  small  double-headed  drum 
between  his  knees,  which  he  was  vigorously  beating  in  accompani 
ment  to  a  "HO,  ho,  HO,  ho,  HO  —  HE,  he,  HE,"  etc.  When  I  went 
afterward  to  the  house  of  Anawita,  the  war-chief,  to  the  rehearsal 
described,  this  old  fellow  and  Anawita  were  the  leaders  of  the 
songs.  They  were  practising  at  that  time  for  the  Somaikoli  or 
Soyaita  ceremony. 

The  Amerind  is  fond  of  singing.  He  sings  in  ceremonials, 
sings  in  camp,  bursts  out  in  yelps  as  he  rides  across  country,  and 
the  women  amongst  the  Pueblos  sing  a  shrill  chant  while  they 
are  grinding  corn.  Men  of  some  tribes  sing  at  times  without 
knowing  what  they  are  singing.  I  once  had  a  Uinkarets  Ute  with 
me  in  Arizona,  and  at  night  this  man  would  build  a  fire  a  few 
yards  from  us,  and  sitting  by  it  would  sing  the  words  Lola-my, 
lola-my,  lola-my  with  great  vigour  and  gusto  over  and  over 
and  over  again.  When  I  asked  him  what  the  words  meant, 
he  said  he  did  not  know,  nor  could  he  explain  just  why  he  per 
formed  thus,  but  it  was  probably  a  gambling  chant.  Singing  is 
used  at  night  for  driving  away  evil  spirits  that  may  be  near.  We 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     319 

had  four  Pai  Utes  once  travelling  with  us  for  a  number  of  weeks, 
and  almost  every  night,  along  in  the  middle,  one  would  wake  and 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
ZUNI   DANCE   ORNAMENT 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
MOKI    NOTCHED    STICK 


With  shoulder-blade  of  deer 
or  sheep  for  scraping  it  to 
make  noise 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 
KWAKIUTL    DOUBLE 
WHISTLE,  WITH  FOUR 
VOICES.       l/ 


Yellow  gourd  with  band  of 
black  and  white  squares. 
A  stick  is  passed  through 
it  for  a  handle.  Generally 
used  in  social  dances 

begin  to  sing  in  a  low  voice,  then  a  second  would  join,  and  a  third, 
and  so  on  till  all  were  engaged,  their  voices  rising  gradually,  and 
finally  as  gradually  diminishing  till  they  ceased  altogether.1  As 

1  Murdoch  says  the  Point  Barrow  Eskimo  wake  up  in  the  night  to  sing. 
—Ninth  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  388. 


320  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


this  performance  woke  us  up  there  were  protests  against  it,  but 
they  were  of  no  avail.  The  red  men  declared  they  did  it  to  drive 
off  the  "  woonupits,"  or  spirit  of  evil,  and  we  were  forced  to  par 
take  of  their  protection.  Beginning  a  song  low  and  rising  slowly 
is  an  effect  often  used.  Fewkes  mentions  something  of  the  kind. 
"At  the  termination  of  this  ceremonial  smoke,"  he  says,  "the 
four  priests  nearest  the  bowl  picked  up  the  small  gourd  rattles  and 
began  a  low,  rapid  rattling.  This  continued  for  a  few  moments, 
and  then  the  priests  began  a  song,  at  first  low,  rising  gradually 
and  increasing  in  volume."  Fewkes  recorded  many  songs  by 
means  of  the  phonograph.  The  Harriman  Expedition  recorded  a 
number  of  Tlinkit  songs,  and  afterwards  some  of  these  were 
reproduced  for  the  benefit  of  men  of  the  same  stock  farther  north, 
who  immediately  recognised  the  melodies  and,  as  their  hilarity 
testified,  enjoyed  them  hugely,  though  they  had  never  before 
heard  a  talking  machine. 

Most  Amerind  songs 
are  connected  with  cere 
monials,  and  some  are 
imported  or  adopted . 
Ceremonials  are  not  al 
ways  sacred.  Many  of 
them  are  full  of  amusing 
features  intended  to  enter 
tain  the  onlookers.  The 
attendance  at  a  camp  or 
village  on  a  ceremonial 
day  is  for  amusement  as 
much  as  anything  else. 
The  different  tribes  of 
a  locality  expect  to  meet 
friends  then  and  enjoy 
social  intercourse.  The 
Amerind  is  fond  of  games,  races,  and  all  forms  of  sport  on  which 
a  wager  can  be  laid.  A  game  without  a  stake  would  be  no 
game  at  all  for  him.  He  must  put  up  something  to  lose,  and 
I  once  noticed  after  a  distribution  of  goods  among  individuals 
of  a  certain  tribe  that  within  twenty-four  hours  a  few  had  all 
the  goods.  In  modern  times  many  Amerinds  play  cards.  Their 
own  games  are  numerous.  In  the  "  awl  game,"  played  chiefly  by 


(STOVE. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


THE    AWL    GAME 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     321 

women,  '  *  the  players, ' '  according  to  Mooney,  ' '  sit  upon  the  ground 
around  a  blanket  marked  in  charcoal  with  lines  and  dots  and  quad 
rants  in  the  corners  as  shown  in  illustration  on  preceding  page.  In 
the  centre  is  a  stone  upon  which  the  sticks  are  thrown.  Each  dot 
counts  a  point,  making  twenty-four  points  for  dots.  Each 
of  the  parallel  lines,  and  each  end  of  the  curved  lines  in  the  cor 
ners,  also  counts  a  point,  making  sixteen  points  for  the  lines,  or 
forty  points  in  all.  The  players  start  from  the  bottom,  opposing 
players  moving  in  opposite  directions,  and  with  each  throw  of  the 
sticks  the  thrower  moves  her  awl  forward  and  sticks  it  into 
the  blanket  at  the  dot  or  line  to  which  her  throw  carries  her. 
The  parallels  on  each  of  the  four  sides  are  called  '  rivers,'  and  the 
dots  within  these  parallels  do  not  count  in  the  game.  The  rivers  at 
the  top  and  bottom  are  '  dangerous  '  and  cannot  be  crossed,  and 
when  the  player  is  so  unlucky  as  to  score  a  throw  which  brings 
her  upon  the  edge  of  the  river  (i.  e. ,  upon  the  first  line  of  either  of 
these  pairs  of  parallels)  she  '  falls  into  the  river  '  and  must  lose 
all  she  has  hitherto  gained  and  begin  again  at  the  start.  In  the 
same  way,  when  a  player  moving  around  in  one  direction  makes  a 
throw  which  brings  her  awl  to  the  place  occupied  by  the  awl  of 
her  opponent  coming  around  from  the  other  side,  the  said  op 
ponent  is  '  whipped  back  '  to  the  starting-point  and  must  begin 
all  over  again.  .  .  .  The  game  is  played  with  four  sticks, 
each  from  six  to  ten  inches  long,  flat  on  one  side  and  round  on  the 
other.  One  of  these  is  the  trump  stick  and  is  marked  in  a  distinct 
ive  manner  in  the  centre  on  both  sides,  and  is  also  distinguished 
by  having  a  green  line  along  the  flat  side,  while  the  others  have 
each  a  red  line.  .  .  .  There  are  also  a  number  of  small  green 
sticks,  about  the  size  of  lead  pencils,  for  keeping  tally.  Each 
player  in  turn  takes  up  the  four  sticks  together  in  her  hand  and 
throws  them  down  on  end  upon  the  stone  in  the  centre.  The 
number  of  points  depends  upon  the  number  of  flat  round  sticks 
which  turn  up.  .  .  .  Only  the  flat  sides  count  except  when  all  the 
sticks  turn  round  side  up.  On  completing  one  round  of  forty 
points  the  player  takes  one  of  the  small  green  tally  sticks  from  the 
pile  and  she  who  first  gets  the  number  of  tally  sticks  previously 
agreed  on  wins  the  game."  ' 

Another  game,  widely  spread  and  in  some  respects  resembling 

'James  Mooney,  The  Ghost-Dance  Religion,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu. 
Eth.,  pp.  1002,  1003. 


322 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


the  Mexican  game  of  patolli,  is  thus  described  by  Fewkes  as  he 
found  it  among  the  Mokis  '  : 

' '  This  game,  totolospi,  resembles  somewhat  the  game  of  check 
ers,  and  can  be  played  by  two  persons  or  by  two  parties.     In  play- 


Set  of  bone  dice,  Arapaho.     Length,  1%  to  2%  in. 


Set  of  counting  sticks,  Blackfeet.     Length,  5^  in. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

Set  of  plum  stones,  Arikaree.     Diameter,  JJ  in. 

AMERIND    GAMBLING    TOOLS 


ing  the  game,  a  rectangular  figure  divided  into  a  large  number  of 

squares  is  drawn  upon  a  rock,  either  by  scratching  or  by  using  a 

different-coloured  stone  as  a  crayon.     A  diagonal  line,  tuhkiota,  is 

1  J.  Walter  Fewkes,  Jour,  of  Am.  Eth.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  159- 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     323 

drawn  across  the  rectangle  from  north-east  to  south-west,  and  the 
players  station  themselves  at  each  end  of  this  line.  When  two 
parties  play,  a  single  person  acts  as  player,  and  the  other  members 
of  the  party  act  as  advisers.  The  first  play  is  won  by  tossing  up  a 
leaf  or  corn  husk  with  one  side  blackened.  The  pieces  which  are 
used  are  bean  or  corn  kernels,  stones  and  wood,  or  small  fragments 
of  any  substance  of  marked  colour.  The  players  are  stationed  at 
each  end  of  the  diagonal  line,  tuhkiota.  They  move  their  pieces 
upon  this  line  but  never  across  it.  The  moves  which  are  made  are 
intricate  and  the  player  may  move  one  or  more  pieces  successively. 
Certain  positions  entitle  him  to  this  privilege.  He  may  capture  or, 
as  he  terms  it,  kill  one  or  more  of  his  opponent's  pieces  at  one  play. 
In  this  respect  the  game  is  not  unlike  checkers,  and  to  capture  the 
pieces  of  the  opponent  seems  to  be  the  main  object  of  the  game." 

Horse-racing  is  a  great  sport  among  all  Amerinds  and  much 
valuable  property  changes  hands  on  these  occasions.  There  are 
also  foot  races.  Anything  they  can  bet  on  constitutes  a  game, 
and  they  are  much  like  many  white  men  in  this  respect.  Ar 
rows  are  shot  into  the  air  to  see  who  can  shoot  out  of  sight,  or 
they  are  shot  at  a  mark  and  dexterous  archers  try  to  split  the 
shaft  of  the  preceding  shooter.  Or  they  throw  arrows  or  bows 
over  the  ground  or  the  snow  to  see  who  can  throw  farthest.  In 
this  line  the  Iroquois  had  the  game  known  as  "snow  snake," 
wherein  a  specially  formed  stick  was  caused  to  glide  over  the 
snow  or  ice.  The  Arapahos  used  for  a  similar  purpose  slender 
willow  rods  about  four  feet  long  peeled  and  painted  and  tipped 
with  a  point  of  buffalo  horn.  This  is  swung  from  one  end  like  a 
pendulum  and  then  let  fly  with  a  sweeping  motion. 

Among  the  Pai  Utes  a  common  gambling  game  was  played  by 
four  men  sitting  down  in  two  rows  opposite  each  other,  that  is,  two 
on  a  side,  and  about  five  feet  apart.  In  front  of  each  side  was  a 
row  of  little  sticks  placed  diagonally  in  sand  heaped  up,  the  ends 
sticking  out  toward  the  side  to  which  the  lot  belonged.  Two  bits 
of  bone  formed  the  pieces,  one  being  plain  and  the  other  having  a 
buckskin  string  around  it.  These  pieces  were  about  two  and  a 
half  inches  long,  tapering  toward  their  ends.  The  leader  of  one 
side  tosses  both  pieces  into  the  air  and,  catching  them,  crosses  his 
arms,  pressing  the  fists  against  each  shoulder.  The  point  is  for 
the  other  side  to  guess  in  which  hand  is  the  piece  that  is  marked 
with  the  string,  and  the  diagonally  opposite  player  chooses.  He 


324  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

does  not  at  once  indicate  a  choice,  but  sways  his  body  back  and 
forth,  his  right  hand  extended  and  waving  to  and  fro  across 
the  opponent's  breast,  and  slapping  his  own  chest,  all  the  while 
fiercely  uttering  a  gambling  song.  Finally  he  would  point  directly 
at  the  hand  he  chose,  and  if  his  guess  were  correct  he  received  a 
tally  stick,  if  not,  the  other  side  got  one.  The  side  that  wins  all 
the  tally  sticks  is  victor  and  carries  off  the  stakes,  which  are  usu 
ally  put  on  the  ground  at  one  end  of  the  group.  This  is  some 
thing  like  the  "hunt  the  button"  game  of  the  prairie  tribes 
described  by  Mooney.1  "  It  is  the  regular  game  in  the  long  win 
ter  nights  after  the  scattered  families  have  abandoned  their  ex 
posed  summer  positions  on  the  open  prairie  and  moved  down  near 
one  another  in  the  shelter  of  the  timber  along  the  streams. 
.  .  .  The  players  sit  in  a  circle  around  the  tipi  fire,  those  on 
one  side  of  the  fire  playing  against  those  on  the  other.  The  only 
requisites  are  the  '  button,'  usually  a  small  bit  of  wood,  around 
which  is  tied  a  piece  of  string  or  otter  skin,  with  a  pile  of  tally 
sticks.  .  .  .  Each  party  has  a  button,  that  of  one  side  being 
painted  black,  the  other  being  red.  The  leader  of  one  party  takes 
up  the  button  rnd  endeavours  to  move  it  from  one  hand  to  the 
other,  or  pass  it  on  to  a  partner,  while  those  of  the  opposite 
side  keep  a  sharp  lookout  and  try  to  guess  in  which  hand  it  is." 
This  game  is  played  by  both  sexes  but  never  together. 

Still  another  game  which  was  a  great  favourite  all  over  the 
country,  and  is  yet,  especially  among  the  women,  is  the  "plum 
stone"  or  dice  game.  Five  or  six  dice  made  of  bone  or  plum 
stones,  a  small  bowl  or  basket,  and  the  usual  tally  sticks  are  the 
implements.  Two  of  the  dice  are  alike  in  shape  and  marking, 
while  the  others  are  different  from  these  but  like  each  other.  The 
dice  are  tossed  up  and  the  count  made  according  to  the  way  the 
marks  and  blanks  fall. 

The  camps  and  villages  are  particularly  lively  in  winter,  when 
there  is  not  much  to  do  in  the  way  of  hunting,  farming,  or  fishing. 
The  sound  of  the  drum,  gambling  songs,  and  rattles  make  the  eve 
ning  merry  where  the  village  is  one  of  skin  tipis  or  other  light  struc 
tures,  but  among  the  Pueblos  the  walls  of  the  houses  are  so  thick 
that  sounds  do  not  easily  come  through.  The  great  drum  is  pene 
trating  and  its  deep  "bum-bum-bum"  could  be  heard  vibrating 
on  the  winter  air,  but  other  sounds  were  muffled  or  extinguished 
1  James  Mooiiey,  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  1008. 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     325 


altogether  by  the  walls.  One  moonlight  evening  when  I  arrived 
before  the  town  of  Oraibi,  about  eight  o'clock,  not  a  single  sound 
was  distinguishable,  and  to  judge  by  appearances,  the  place  was 
a  deserted  ruin,  till  the  dogs  got  a  sniff  of  our  approach  and  then 
pandemonium  ruled  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  Many  tribes 
have  an  assembly  house,  where  there  are  various  congregations  in 
the  winter  evenings,  to  sing  and  to  dance.  Among  the  Pueblos 
these  congregations,  when  there  are  women  or  girls  involved,  take 
place  in  an  ordinary  dwelling  ;  the  kiva,  which  is  council  room, 
club,  and  society  lodge,  seldom  being  open  to  w7omen.  An  orches 
tra  that  performed  in  a  Kabinapek  assembly  hall  described  by 
Stephen  Powers  is  worth  mentioning.  "The  orchestra,  eight  in 
number,  all  young  men,  were  squatted  together  opposite  the 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


Section 


TERRA    COTTA    RATTLE    FROM    CHIRIQL"! 


entrance,  four  facing  four.  Between  them  was  a  hollow  slab,  serving 
as  a  kind  of  drum  to  be  beaten  by  a  drummer  with  the  naked  foot, 
and  each  of  them  held  in  his  right  hand  a  little  stick,  split  half 
way  down,  to  be  used  as  a  clapper  in  keeping  time.  The  dancers 
were  all  young  women,  who  stood  in  a  curved  row  in  front  of  the 
orchestra."  This  orchestra  sang  a  chorus  accompanied  by  the 
clappers  they  held.  "  I/Ike  everything  they  sung  it  has  no  mean 
ing.  They  all  sung  in  a  high  falsetto  voice,  the  women  especially, 


326  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

so  that  they  were  less  agreeable  to  listen  to  than  the  men.  The 
sharp  monotonous  clacking  of  the  sticks  and  the  dull  tunk,  tunk 
of  the  slab  drum  were  execrable. ' '  He  states  that  the)-  kept  per 
fect  time,  however,  and  also  that  "  there  was  one  short  passage  in 
this  chorus  which  when  chanted  by  the  men  alone  was  one  of 
the  most  moving  I  ever  heard.  These  three  rude,  barbaric,  and 
wholly  unintelligible  syllables,  hu-di-go,  were  trilled  and  pro 
longed  out  with  a  sweet,  soft,  and  wild  melodiousness  that  I  shall 
not  forget  to  my  dying  hour." 

The  Eskimo,  despite  the  severity  of  their  surroundings,  are  a 
merry  people,  and  have  many  diversions.  Football,  strange  to 
say,  is  a  favourite  pastime,  but  neither  their  method  nor  their  ball 
would  pass  muster  with  a  college  expert.  The  ball  is  a  pudgy 
affair  from  three  to  seven  inches  in  diameter,  and  is  either  kicked 
or  whipped  along.  The  whip  is  a  short  stick  with  several  loops 
of  seal  thong  at  the  end.  The  game,  according  to  Turner,  is  a 
favourite  with  all.  Throwing  stones  at  a  mark  is  also  a  pastime. 
Another  is  a  kind  of  wrestling  or  struggling  with  each  other,  such 
as  is  in  vogue  with  almost  all  the  tribes  of  the  continent.  Turner 
says  :  ' '  The  opponents  remove  all  their  superfluous  garments,  seize 
each  other  around  the  waist  and  lock  hands  behind  each  other's 
backs.  The  feet  are  spread  widely  apart  and  each  endeavours  to 
draw,  by  the  strength  of  the  arms  alone,  the  back  of  his  opponent 
into  a  curve  and  thus  bring  him  off  his  feet.  Then  with  a  lift  he 
is  quickly  thrown  flat  on  his  back.  The  fall  must  be  such  that 
the  head  touches  the  ground.  .  .  .  The  feet  are  never  used 
for  tripping."  2 

Anything  like  scientific  boxing  is  unknown  among  the  tribes 
of  the  continent.  When  they  try  anything  of  this  sort  it  is  a 
mere  clawing  at  each  other's  heads,  and  one  professional  pugilist, 
if  fists  alone  were  used,  could  knock  out  a  whole  tribe.  Among 
the  Hudson  Bay  Eskimo,  a  popular  game  is  played  by  trying  to 
catch,  on  the  end  of  an  ivory  point,  an  ivory  piece  that  looks  some 
thing  like  a  stumpy  revolver.  A  string  is  attached  to  it  and  to 
the  ivory  point,  and  the  game  is  to  throw  up  the  piece  and  cause 
the  point  to  enter  one  of  the  holes  and  catch  it.  Cards,  such  as  we 
have,  are  known  to  almost  all  tribes,  and  where  they  have  not 
learned  games  from  the  whites  they  invent  some  of  their  own. 

1  Stephen  Powers,  Tribes  of  California,  pp.  211,  212. 

2  Eleventh  Ann.  Kept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  255. 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     327 

Ball  games  of  various  kinds  were  played  and  the  Canadian 
game  called  lacrosse  is  of  Amerind  origin.  Parkinan  in  his 
Pontiac  vividly  describes  one  of  these  lacrosse  games  used  in 
strategy  to  gain  entrance  to  an  English  fort.  "The  plain  in 
front  was  covered  by  the  ball  players.  The  game  in  which  they 
were  engaged,  called  baggattaway  by  the  Ojibwas,  is  still,  as  it  al- 


CAT-SHAPED    WHISTLE    OF    TERRA    COTTA,    CHIRIQUI 

ways  has  been,  a  favourite  with  many  Indian  tribes.  At  either  ex 
tremity  of  the  ground,  a  tall  post  was  planted,  marking  the  stations 
of  the  rival  parties.  The  object  of  each  was  to  defend  its  own 
post  and  drive  the  ball  to  that  of  its  adversary.  Hundreds  of 
lithe  and  agile  figures  were  leaping  and  bounding  upon  the  plain. 
Each  was  nearly  naked,  his  loose  black  hair  flying  in  the  wind, 
and  each  bore  in  his  hand  a  bat  of  a  form  peculiar  to  this  game. 
At  one  moment  the  whole  were  crowded  together,  a  dense  throng 
of  combatants  all  struggling  for  the  ^ball  ;  at  the  next  they  were 
scattered  again,  and  running  over  the  ground  like  hounds  in  full 
cry.  Each,  in  his  excitement,  yelled  and  shouted  at  the  height 
of  his  voice.  Rushing  and  striking,  tripping  their  adversaries,  or 
hurling  them  to  the  ground,  they  pursued  the  animated  contest 
amid  the  laughter  and  applause  of  the  spectators." 


28 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


In  Central  America,  a  form  of  tennis  was  in  vogue  and  stone 
courts  where  the  game  was  played  have  been  found  and  described 
by  some  of  our  modern  archaeologists. 

I  never  saw  any  ball  playing  amongst  the  Uinkarets,  Shevwits, 
or  other  Amerinds  of  the  northern  Arizona-southern  Nevada  re 
gion.  They  all  appeared  to  be  deficient  in  games,  at  the  time  I 
was  first  among  them,  not  knowing  what  our  playing-cards  were, 
and  having  even  no  games  of  exterior  origin.  There  were  flat 
pieces  of  cedar  bark,  painted  with  red  stripes,  said  by  some  to 
have  been  used  like  dice,  but  I  never  saw  them  engaged  in  playing 
with  them.  The  children  used  a  flat  piece  of  bark  as  a  doll,  and 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


George  Catlin 


MANDAN    GAME    OF    TCHUNGKEE 


most  Amerind  children  play  with  dolls  made  of  wood,  terra  cotta, 
and  other  materials  The  small  boys  devote  themselves  to  the 
bow  and  arrow  for  amusement  in  many  tribes,  and  they  will  go 
out  in  the  woods,  or  on  the  plain,  and  bring  down  small  birds 
and  mice  with  considerable  skill.  The  whip-top,  made  of  wood, 
is  a  favourite  everywhere,  especially  among  the  Moki  boys,  whose 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     329 

life  on  the  barren  mesas  precludes  much  hunting  with  bow  and 
arrow.     The  children  also  beat  the  drum  for  fun. 

Horse-racing  is  a  sport  in  which  many  tribes,  especially 
those  of  the  plains,  are  past  masters.  The  Pueblos,  particularly 
the  Mokis,  owing  to  their  sedentary  life,  have  less  opportunity 
to  develop  in  this  line,  but  the  Navajos,  Sioux,  Crows,  Black- 
feet,  and  Comanches  have  little  to  learn  about  rough-and-ready 
racing.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  Eskimo,  Aleuts,  Tlin- 
kits,  Haidas,  and  other  North-west  tribes,  whose  range  of  life  is 
on  and  by  the  sea,  have  no  knowledge  of  handling  horses.  They 
never  adopted  the  horse,  because  it  was  as  useless  to  them  as  an 
elephant  or  a  hippopotamus.  But  to  the  plains  tribes  this  animal 
came  like  a  gift  from  the  gods,  and  they  appreciated  it  fully,  and 
horses  became  their  standard  of  wealth.  Some  tribes,  like  the 
Kaivavits,  Uinkarets,  and  Shevwits  Utes  of  northern  Arizona 
have  never  possessed  many  horses  because  of  their  poverty, 
but  there  were  always  a  goodly  number  owned,  and  horse-racing 
was  a  great  amusement  with  them,  as  well  as  with  those  tribes 
which  counted  their  horses  by  the  thousand.  Dodge  describes 
an  amusing  race  that  took  place  near  Fort  Chadbourne,  Texas, 
between  a  horse  of  a  Comanche  chief  and  three  horses  of  the 
officers  of  the  garrison,  which  illustrates  the  Amerind  cleverness 
in  the  jockeying  line.1  It  took  several  days  of  manoeuvring  to 
bring  the  chief  to  the  point,  and  then  a  race  was  arranged  with 
the  third  best  horse  of  the  white  men.  The  distance  was  four 
hundred  yards,  and  property  to  the  amount  of  sixty  dollars  a  side 
was  wagered  on  the  result.  "At  the  appointed  time  all  the 
Indians  and  most  of  the  garrison  were  assembled  at  the  track. 
The  Indians  '  showed  '  a  miserable  sheep  of  a  pony  with  legs  like 
churns  ;  a  three-inch  coat  of  rough  hair  stuck  out  all  over  the 
body,  and  a  general  expression  of  neglect,  helplessness,  and  patient 
suffering  struck  pity  into  the  hearts  of  all  beholders.  The  rider 
was  a  stalwart  buck  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds,  looking 
big  and  strong  enough  to  carry  the  poor  beast  on  his  shoulders. 
He  was  armed  with  a  huge  club,  with  which,  after  the  word  was 
given,  he  belabored  the  miserable  animal  from  start  to  finish.  To 
the  astonishment  of  all  the  whites,  the  Indian  won  by  a  neck. 
Another  race  was  proposed  by  the  officers  and,  after  much  '  dick 
ering,'  accepted  by  the  Indians,  against  the  next  best  horse  of  the 
1  Col.  Richard  Irving  Dodge,  The  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  pp.  329,  330. 


330  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

garrison.  The  bets  were  doubled,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  the 
second  race  was  run  by  the  same  pony,  with  the  same  apparent 
exertion  and  with  exactly  the  same  result.  The  officers,  thoroughly 
disgusted,  proposed  a  third  race,  and  brought  to  the  ground  a 
magnificent  Kentucky  mare,  of  the  true  Lexington  blood,  and 
known  to  beat  the  best  of  the  others  at  least  forty  yards  in  four 
hundred.  The  Indians  accepted  the  race,  and  not  only  doubled 
the  bets  as  before,  but  piled  up  everything  they  could  raise,  seem- 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

DOUBLE    WHISTLE    IN    TERRA    COTTA    FROM    CHIRIQUI 
Actual  size 

ingly  almost  crazed  with  the  excitement  of  their  previous  success. 
The  riders  mounted  ;  the  word  was  given.  Throwing  away  his 
club,  the  Indian  rider  gave  a  whoop,  at  which  the  sheep-like  pony 
pricked  up  his  ears  and  went  away  like  the  wind,  almost  two  feet 
to  the  mare's  one.  The  last  fifty  yards  of  the  course  were  run  by 
the  pony  with  the  rider  sitting  face  to  his  tail,  making  hideous 
grimaces,  and  beckoning  to  the  rider  of  the  mare  to  come  on.  It 
afterwards  transpired  that  the  old  sheep  was  a  trick  and  straight 
pony,  celebrated  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  South."  Yet  some 
people  think  the  Amerind  has  no  sense  of  humour. 

Story  telling  is  another  amusement,  and  a  good  story  teller,  says 
Dodge,  is  a  man  of  importance.  "The  bucks,  and  squaws,  and 
children  crowd  to  his  lodge,  or  any  other  where  he  happens  to  be, 
and  spend  the  long  winter  evenings  listening  to  his  recitals. 
These  stories  are  as  marvellous  as  the  imagination  of  the  teller 
can  create,  jumbling  gods  and  men,  fabulous  and  living  animals, 
the  impossible  and  the  possible  in  the  most  heterogeneous  con 
fusion."  ' 

The   Navajos,    or  at  least  some  of  them,    have   considerable 
1  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  p.  324. 


Musical   Instruments,   Amusements,  and  Games     331 

dramatic  sense.  On  one  occasion,  when  some  Navajos  camped 
near  us,  one  of  them  gave  an  exhibition  of  character  delineation 
that  would  have  done  credit  to  a  professional  actor.  Choosing  a 
large  bush  nearby  as  a  screen  for  his  costuming,  he  came  out  to 
the  fire  successively  representing  the  various  nationalities  with 
which  he  was  familiar.  Some  of  these  were  extremely  well  done. 
The  Pai  Ute.  for  instance,  is  poor  in  clothing  and  always  begging. 
Our  actor  took  off  all  his  clothing  but  the  breech-cloth,  approached 
the  fire  timidly  and  cringingly,  and  crouched  down  beside  it, 
drawing  the  back  of  his  hand  across  his  nose  with  an  accompany 
ing  sniffle,  and  exclaimed  in  Pai  Ute:  Tabac  ashanty  (I  want 
some  tobacco).  Another  was  the  American,  who  stepped  nerv 
ously  to  the  fire,  and  restlessly  turned  first  front,  then  back, 
extended  his  hands,  rubbing  them  over  the  heat ;  held  up  first 
one  foot,  then  the 

other,  and  so  on.     L^AVX-.^          —        "    < ""   nj) 

These  impersona-     *«g=--  -*=• 

tions  were  full  of 
the    character    of 
the     types      indi 
cated.      The    ex-    pvSZZT  -  -^L^^— = jj) 
hibition        finally     ^^       — **-                  "     •  "^ 
culminated     in    a 

representation     of    ftiV*^  •    —    . ,  9      f          Z~=— ;— _ ^h 

the  characteristics  i      4=—.-  *-*SA^- 

of  his  own  people.     * — — — * .  ^^^^ 

Retiring     once    ^^ ?--^===r ^.^JS^g^J^^-  —  , p 

again   behind  the     u-  s.  Nat.  MU. 

,         ,         ,  SET    OF    STAVES    FOR    GAME 

bush,    he   at    last 

The  lowest  shows  obverse  of  one  above.     Length,  5^2  in. 

appeared  with  his 

full  costume  on,  carefully  adjusted.  His  head  bore  a  red  tur 
ban,  his  shirt  was  held  by  a  fine  belt,  his  broad  Navajo  trousers 
met  at  the  knee  the  red  buckskin  leggings,  ornamented  with  silver 
buttons,  and  his  feet  were  protected  by  moccasins  finely  wrought, 
held  by  silver  buttons.  About  his  shoulders  was  a  fine  blanket 
of  Navajo  make,  and  across  his  back  a  large  bow  and  its  arrows  in 
a  panther-skin  case  and  quiver.  Approaching  the  fire  with  a 
measured,  haughty  tread,  head  erect  and  folded  arms,  he  paused 
majestically  before  it,  straightened  to  his  full  height,  and  in  a 
deep,  dignified  tone  spoke  the  single  word,  "  Navajo." 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


"  BANNER-STONE,"  TENNESSEE 


CHAPTER  XII 


WORKS   AND   AGRICULTURE 

FOR  a  long  time  it  was  believed  by  the  whites  that  the  ' '  Indi 
ans  "  were  incapable  of  doing  anything  beyond  weaving 
baskets,  and  from  this  condition  of  ignorance  much  of  the 
confusion  concerning  the  Amerinds  has  arisen.  The  line  of  rea 
soning  was  based  on  some  such  syllogism  as  this  :  The  ' '  Indian  ' ' 
never  worked  ;  The  Cliff-dweller  and  the  Moundbuilder  worked 
at  building  houses  and  mounds  ;  Conclusion,  The  Cliff-dweller 
and  the  Moundbuilder  were  not  "  Indians."  Short,  in  his  excel 
lent  book  on  the  Amerinds,1  applies  unfortunately  this  method  of 
reasoning  to  the  copper-mine  workers  of  the  Lake  Superior  dis 
trict,  saying:  "The  labour  involved  in  a  journey  of  a  thousand 
miles  from  the  Ohio  valley  to  the  copper  regions,  the  toil  of  the 
summer's  mining,  and  the  tedious  transportation  of  the  metal  to 
their  homes  upon  their  backs,  and  by  means  of  an  imperfect  sys 
tem  of  navigation,  indicates  either  industry  and  resolution  such  as 
no  savage  Indian  ever  possessed,  or  a  condition  of  servitude  in  which 
thousands  occupied  a  position  of  abject  slavery."  This  seems  a 
complete  misunderstanding  of  the  people  and  conditions  existing 
on  this  continent.  Without  consuming  space  in  discussing  these 
errors,  I  think  my  preceding  pages  have  demonstrated  that  far 
!  John  T.  Short,  The  North  Americans  of  Antiquity. 
332 


Works  and  Agriculture  333 

from  lacking  industry  and  resolution,  the  "savage  Indian"  was 
applying  himself  in  his  way  to  a  solution  of  the  life  problems 
which  surrounded  him.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  rules  of  com 
merce,  book-keeping,  and  exchange,  but  there  are  other  things 
in  the  world  besides  figures  and  accounts.  The  Amerind's 
game-supply  and  clothing,  and  the  soil  about  him,  were  not  over 
taxed,  at  least  not  north  of  Anahuac,  till  the  whites  arrived  with 
their  mania  for  "killing  something,"  and  introduced  on  this 
continent  the  destructive  practice  of  hunting  for  the  fun  of  seeing 
how  many  animals  could  be  killed  in  a  certain  time ;  or  of 
killing  for  a  special  part  of  an  animal,  as  for  the  tongues,  or  the 
hides  and  tallow,  of  the  bison.  When  I  first  went  to  the  Far 
West  bison  were  spread  over  the  plains  by  thousands.  Not  a 
single  specimen  can  to-day  be  found  alive  outside  of  some  private 
herd  or  the  Yellowstone  Park.  Hunting,  as  before  mentioned, 
was  with  the  Amerind  labour,  not  amusement,  but  in  conjunction 
with  their  hunting  most  tribes  carried  on  farming  operations.  It 
has  often  been  asserted  that  the  ' '  Indian ' '  did  no  work,  even 
leaving  the  cultivation  of  the  corn  and  squashes  to  the  women. 
That  the  women  in  some  of  the  tribes  tended  the  crops,  is  true, 
but  in  others,  like  the  Pueblos,  they  seldom  or  never  touched  hoe 
or  spade.  The  Eastern  men  were  hunting  or  building  boats,  or 
were  on  the  warpath,  hence  it  was  necessary  for  the  women  to 
look  after  the  fields. 

In  the  Eastern  regions  the  crops  grew  without  watering,  but  in 
the  West  and  South-west  the  soil  was  arid  and  irrigation  was 
necessary,  hence  there  are  found  to  this  day  remnants  of  extensive 
irrigation  canals  built  to  bring  rivers  out  on  the  dry  land.  The 
fact  that  the  resident  Apaches  do  not  irrigate  does  not  prove 
that  these  great  canals  were  built  by  people  who  emigrated  from 
China  or  India,  in  the  absurd  line  of  argument  that  has  so  often 
been  advanced  in  discussing  Amerindian  affairs  ;  it  simply  proves 
that  the  Apaches  did  not  cultivate  the  soil,  or  not  extensively 
enough  to  require  irrigating  works,  and  also,  over  again,  that 
tribes  and  stocks  exist  in  a  region,  in  different  conditions  or  stages 
of  development,  either  at  the  same  time  or  at  different  times. 
These  irrigating  canals  are  unquestionably  the  work  of  tribes 
similar  to  the  Pueblos;  that  is  now  well  established.  They  were 
constructed  because,  in  an  increasing  population  and  a  probable 
decrease  of  precipitation,  they  were  found  necessary.  An  increase 


334  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

of  population  diminishes  the  food-supply  ;  in  an  arid  country 
where  game  is  not  plenty  this  diminution  is  rapid.  A  correspond 
ing  development  of  a  food  crop  is  the  inevitable  course,  unless 
the  tribe  were  to  migrate  to  more  humid  regions.  In  this  case, 
hostile  people  already  there  might  have  to  be  met,  and  it  would 
be  easier  to  remain  at  the  old  place  and  invent  new  methods  of 
obtaining  food.  In  some  such  way  irrigating  and  its  attendant 


Scale  34  feet  to  the  inch. 
U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

SO-CALLED    ELEPHANT    MOUND,    WISCONSIN 
Has  been  ploughed  over.     Length,  140  ft.  ;  greatest  height,  4  ft. 

engineering  developed.  Irrigating  canals,  then,  are  found  not 
where  any  lost  or  mysterious  race  once  dwelt,  nor  where  any  par 
ticular  Amerind  stock  were  living,  but  where  the  climatic  con 
ditions  and  population  made  irrigation  imperative.  These 
conditions  prevailed  on  this  continent  in  Mexico  and  our  South 
west,  and  there  consequently  are  found  the  most  important  works 
of  this  kind.  The  remains  of  irrigating  canals  in  the  south-west 
ern  United  States  are  numerous.  There  are  indications  of  them 
along  the  fertile  bottoms  of  the  Colorado  River  in  Glen  Canyon. 
These  bottoms  are  deposits  of  alluvial  soil,  generally  occupying 
the  inside  of  a  bend  at  the  base  of  the  cliffs.  They  are  of  various 
extent,  about  three  to  eight  feet  above  ordinary  high- water  mark, 
and  are  fringed  with  willows.  I  remember  examining  several 


Works  and  Agriculture 


335 


indications  of  these  "  ditches,"  but  as  I  made  no  notes  at  the  time, 
and  it  was  long  ago,  I  cannot  give  details.  There  were  ruins  of 
houses  here  and  there,  both  on  the  cliffs  and  below,  and  the  cliff 
faces  bore  pictographs.  Amongst  these  I  found,  and  copied,  one 
which  suggested  some  kind  of  a  scaffolding  and  sweep  for  lifting 
water,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  something  of  this  kind  was 
utilised  for  raising  water  from  the  river.  As  there  would  be  no 
opportunity  to  construct  a  canal  or  ditch  sufficiently  long  to  re 
ceive  water  by  natural  flow  from  the  river  owing  to  the  shortness 
of  the  alluvial  stretches,  a  system  of  lifting  it  into  the  ditches 
might  have  been  devised.  Water  might  have  been  obtained  also 
in  another  way.  The  country  on  both  sides  of  the  river  at  this 
point  is  composed  chiefly  of  barren  surfaces  of  homogeneous  sand 
stone  which  collect  enormous  quantities  of  water,  like  the  roof  of 
a  house,  during  rain-storms,  and  pour  it  over  the  edges  of  the 
cliffs  and  down  the  alcoves  and  lateral  canyons.  This  water  may 
also  have  been  utilised  for  irrigating  purposes.  The  Mokis  utilise 
showers  by  collecting  and  guiding  the  streamlets  with  low  dams 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
ANCIENT    FABRIC    DESIGN    FROM    IMPRESSION    ON    POTTERY,    UTAH 

hastily  thrown  up  by  their  hoes,  so  it  is  certain  that  all  these 
Amerinds  understood  thoroughly  the  importance  of  utilising 
shower- water  on  their  crops.1 

In  the  Verde  River  region  of  Arizona  some  very  large  canals 
or  "ditches"  have  been  observed.  Mindeleff  has  described  a 
number  of  these,  and  I  will  mention  one  which  he  says  is  one  of 

1  From  the  Moki  method  of  guiding  shower-waters  amongst  the  corn  to 
guiding  waters  from  a  brook  or  river  in  that  way  would  not  be  a  great  step  ; 
indeed,  it  would  be  most  simple  and  natural  and  would  easily  be  forced  by 
circumstances. 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


the  finest  he  has  seen.1  This  is  "about  two  miles  below  the 
mouth  of  Limestone  Creek  on  the  opposite  or  eastern  side  of  the 
river."  The  canal  extends  across  the  northern  and  western  part 
of  an  extent  of  fertile  bottom  land.  In  one  place  it  is  marked 

"  by  a  very  shallow  trough 
in  the  grass-covered  bot 
tom,  bounded  on  either 
side  by  a  low  ridge  of  earth 
and  pebbles,  at  another  it 
was  cut  through  a  low 
ridge.  It  is  probable  that 
the  water  was  taken  out  of 
the  river  about  two  miles 
above  this  place,  but  the 
ditch  was  run  on  the  slop 
ing  side  of  the  mesa  which 
has  recently  washed  out." 
It  is  supposed  that  this 
ancient  canal  irrigated 
nearly  the  whole  of  the 
bottom  land  mentioned, 
which  was  recently  again 
reclaimed  by  another 
"ditch"  or  canal  con 
structed  by  Americans. 
' '  The  ancient  ditch  is  well 
marked  by  two  clearly  de- 
u.  s.  BU.  Eth.  fined  lines  of  pebbles  and 

ANCIENT    FABRIC    PRESERVED    BY    COPPER    CELT,    Small     boulderS. 

IOWA  Probably  these  pebbles  en- 

ee  page  Io8  tered  into  its  construction, 

as  the  modern  ditch,  washed  out  at  its  head  .  .  .  shows  no 
trace  of  a  similar  marking." 

Farming  was  carried  on  very  much  as  the  Mokis  carry  it  on 
to-day,  except  that  the  Mokis  do  not  have  to  build  irrigating 
ditches,  the  showers  supplying  by  their  method  water  enough  to 
mature  the  crops.  A  German  has  recently  settled  south-westerly 
from  the  Mokis  and,  I  have  been  told,  grows  good  crops  on  his 

1  Cosmos  Mindeleff,  "Aboriginal  Remains  of  Verde  Valley,"  Thirteenth 
Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  238. 


1{^    ; 


a  in 


338  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

place  without  irrigation.  Mindeleff  further  states  that  "on  the 
southern  side  of  Clear  Creek,  about  a  mile  above  its  mouth,  there 
are  extensive  horticultural '  works  covering  a  large  area  of  the  ter 
race  or  river  bench.  .  .  .  For  a  distance  of  two  miles  east  and 
west  along  the  creek,  and  perhaps  half  a  mile  north  and  south, 
there  are  traces  of  former  works  pertaining  to  horticulture,  includ 
ing  irrigating  ditches,  '  reservoirs,'  farming  outlooks,  etc."  The 
reservoirs  are  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  threshing-floors, 
being  large  circular  depressions  lined  with  clay.  The  produce 
derived  from  these  farming  operations  was  corn,  beans,  squashes, 
and  cotton,  corn  being  the  principal.  Cotton  was  grown  by 
some,  but  not  all,  of  the  south-western  tribes.  A  great  many  of 
the  tribes  throughout  the  United  States  and  Mexico  were  farm 
ers  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  and  many  of  the  earthworks  of  the 
Mississippi  valley  were  in  all  probability  connected  with  agricult 
ure.  It  was  necessary  there  to  protect  the  crops  from  marauding 
parties  from  wilder  tribes,  so,  in  all  probability,  some  of  the  earth 
works,  surmounted  by  palisades  or  by  watch-houses,  served  to 
guard  the  crops  from  depredations.  Morgan  thinks  some  of  the 
square  ones  were  foundations  for  communal  houses,2  and  this  is 
also  probable. 

On  the  upper  Gila  River  in  Arizona,  Fewkes  discovered  traces 
of  reservoirs  and  irrigating  canals.  "  The  large  circular  or  elong 
ated  oval  depressions,"  he  says,  "in  the  immediate  neighbour 
hood  of  some  of  the  house-mounds  have  been  identified  as  the  sites 
of  former  reservoirs.  .  .  .  The  reservoir  at  Buena  Vista  is  one 
of  the  largest  that  was  discovered,  yet  no  irrigating  ditches  lead 
ing  into  it  were  distinctly  traced.  .  .  .  There  is  abundant  ev 
idence  that  the  ancient  people  of  the  Pueblo  Viejo  Valley  led  the 
water  from  the  Gila  River  over  the  plain  by  means  of  canals  for 
purposes  of  agriculture,  for  in  many  places  the  depressions  mark 
ing  the  old  ditches  may  be  traced  for  considerable  distances. 
I  have  been  informed  by  some  of  the  older  residents  that 
when  they  came  into  the  country,  before  the  Montezuma  and  San 
Jose  irrigation  ditches  had  been  constructed,  the  ancient  aque 
ducts  were  much  more  conspicuous  than  they  are  to-day,  and  that 

1  The  term  "  horticulture  "  as  employed  by  some  writers  means  agricult 
ure  on  a  small  scale,  the  operations  not  being  considered  by  them  extensive 
enough  to  merit  the  title  of  agriculture. 

2  Refer  to  previous  chapter  on  "  Architecture  and  Dwellings." 


Works  and  Agriculture  339 

sections  of  the  modern  ditches  follow  the  course  of  the  ancient 
waterways."  1 


American  Museum,  Kunz  Collection  From  Monumental  Records 

A   VOTIVE   ADZ    OF   JADITE    FROM    MEXICO,    SHOWING    FRONT    AND    SIDE 

Height,  lofcj  in. ;  width,  6  in.  ;  thickness,  4!  in.     Highly  polished ;  color  light  grayish  green  with 
streaks  of  emerald  green  on  the  back.     A  complete  human  figure.     See  page  341  for  back. 

The  Aztecs  built  long  aqueducts  to  supply  their  towns,  and  the 
Mayas  constructed  large  reservoirs.     Charnay  says  :  "According 

'J.  Walter   Fewkes,    "Preliminary   Account  of  Archaeological   Field 
Work  in  Arizona  in  1897,"  Smithsonian  Report,  1897,  p.  613. 


34-O  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

to  historians  of  the  Conquest,  El  Salto  del  Agua  (a  monumental 
fountain  in  the  City  of  Mexico)  and  the  aqueduct  which  it  termin 
ates  replaced  the  ancient  aqueduct  of  Montezuma  constructed  by 
Netzaliualcoyotl,  King  of  Tezcuco,  between  the  years  1427  and 
1440.  At  that  time  it  was  brought  through  an  earthen  pipe  to  the 
city,  along  a  dyke  constructed  for  the  purpose,  and  that  there 
might  be  no  failure  in  so  essential  an  article,  a  double  course 
of  pipes  in  stone  and  mortar  was  laid.  In  this  way  a  column  of 
water  the  size  of  a  man's  body  was  conducted  into  the  heart  of  the 
capital."  ' 

George  Bancroft  makes  the  statement  that  "  of  the  labours  of 
the  Indians  on  the  soil  of  Virginia,  there  remains  nothing  so  re 
spectable  as  would  be  a  common  ditch  for  the  draining  of  lands," 
but  in  this  Bancroft  was  somewhat  mistaken,  for  Thomas  describes3 
some  mounds  in  West  Virginia,  which  was  Virginia  when  the 
above  sentence  was  written,  that  were  undoubtedly  the  work  of 
some  of  the  Amerinds  formerly  occupying  that  soil.  "  First  the 
earth  (unless  the  place  selected  is  a  bare  rock)  is  removed  to  the 
solid  rock  foundation  and  an  approximately  level  space  from  ten 
to  thirty  feet  in  diameter  formed.  Centrally  on  this  was  placed  a 
layer  of  flat  stones,  with  the  edge  inward,  around  a  circle  about 
three  feet  in  diameter.  Upon  the  outer  edge  of  these,  others  were 
placed  with  their  outer  edges  resting  upon  the  prepared  founda 
tion  running  entirety  round  the  circle.  Then  another  inner  layer 
with  the  best  edge  inward  and  the  thinner  edge  resting  on  the 
outer  layer,  the  stones  of  one  layer  breaking  joints  with  those  be 
low,  as  far  as  the  size  and  form  would  admit.  Outside  of  the 
inner  row,  and  with  the  edges  resting  on  it,  other  circles  were 
added  until  a  diameter  ranging  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  or  even 
more  was  attained,  thus  extending  upon  the  sloping  earth  not  re 
moved  in  forming  the  foundation.  The  last  or  outer  circle  usually 
consisted  of  but  a  single  layer,  over  which  earth  was  thrown,  being 
sometimes  heaped  up  until  it  equalled  in  contents  the  rock  pile. 
The  height  of  these  piles  was  found  to  vary  from  four  to  eight 
feet,  in  one  or  two  instances  reaching  ten  feet.  But  in  all  cases 
the  circular  space  or  opening  in  the  centre  continued  to  the  top  the 
same  diameter  as  at  the  bottom,  somewhat  resembling  the  so-called 

1  Desire  Charnay,  Ancient  Cities,  p.  36. 

2  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  209. 
8  Cyrus  Thomas,  Twelfth  Ann.  RepL  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  408. 


Works  and  Agriculture  341 

'well-holes'  of  the  early  western  pioneers."  The  stones  used  in 
these  constructions  were  obtained  by  "  rude  quarrying  in  stratified 
cliffs  one  half  mile  distant.  Some  of  them  measure  from  four  to  six 


American  Museum  from  Monumental  Records 

BACK    OF    VOTIVE    ADZ 
For  front  and  side  see  page  339 

feet  in  length,  half  as  wide,  and  of  a  thickness  which  renders  them 
so  heavy  as  to  require  from  two  to  four  stout  men  to  handle 
them."  Skeletons  were  found  in  cavities  of  these  piles  "with 
head  or  feet  (generally  the  latter)  toward  the  central  well-hole." 


342  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Coarse  pottery,  rude  large  celts,  lance-  and  arrow-heads  were 
also  discovered,  and  "  all  the  cavities  of  the  heap  not  originally 
used  for  burial  are  filled  with  earth  or  mortar,  often  well  baked 
by  fire."  1  Many  mounds  and  other  earthworks  have  been 
found  in  the  western  Virginia  region,  and  in  some  of  them  copper 
articles  have  been  brought  to  light.2  In  New  York  there  are 
many  mounds  called  "old  forts,"  of  various  shapes,  with  walls 
from  one  and  one  half  to  two  feet  or  more  high,  and  thence  west 
ward,  throughout  the  Mississippi  valley,  mounds  and  earthworks 
of  many  shapes  and  sizes  are  found.  They  appear  to  be  concent 
rated  in  various  centres,  with  a  sprinkling  in  between  suggest 
ing  a  number  of  different  groups  of  Amerinds  as  their  builders, 
which  has  been  pretty  well  established  by  evidence  was  the  case. 
Some  of  the  mounds  were  of  enormous  size,  the  famous  one  at 
Cahokia,  Illinois,  being  one  of  the  highest  and  largest  on  the  con 
tinent.  Its  altitude  is  about  ninety  feet,  and  it  contains  nearly 
500,000  cubic  yards  of  earth.  Its  purpose  is,  of  course,  not  known, 
but  it  probably  supported  some  religious  structure  of  wood. 
Many  of  the  mounds,  as  pointed  out  in  the  chapter  on  dwell 
ings,  were  merely  supports  for  buildings,  religious  or  otherwise. 
Others  were  connected  with  religious  rites  in  other  ways.  Doubt 
less  the  figures  of  birds  found  in  Wisconsin  represented  the 
"Thunder-bird,"  of  which  there  are  legends  and  traditions  in 
many  tribes.  It  was  to  the  Amerind  the  cause  of  the  thunder  and 
lightning.  These  great  and  small  earthworks  were  constructed  in 
the  United  States  by  scooping  up  earth  from  the  vicinity  and  car 
rying  it  in  baskets  to  the  designated  spot.  The  United  States 
mounds  are,  as  a  rule,  made  of  earth,  those  of  Mexico  and  Cen 
tral  America  of  clay  or  adobe  brick,  faced  with  stone  or  wholly  of 
stone.  "  It  is  often  the  case, ' '  says  Thomas,  speaking  of  the  burial 
mounds  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  "when  a  mound  is  carefully 
excavated  and  closely  scanned  as  the  work  proceeds,  especially 
where  the  material  is  clay  or  muck,  that  the  individual  loads  can 
be  readily  discerned.  As  the  earth  of  which  the  mounds  is  com 
posed  is  usually  gathered  up  from  the  surrounding  surface,  the  in 
terior  will  vary  in  color  and  character  only  as  the  soil  so  gathered 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Twelfth  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  408. 

2  In  New  England  there  was  once  a  fortification  in  Sanbornton,  N.  H., 
which  had  walls  six  feet  thick  and  breast-high,  faced  outside  with  stone. — 
Winsor,  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  404. 


Works  and  Agriculture  343 

up  varies.  .  .  .  The  places  from  whence  material  was  taken 
to  build  the  small  or  moderate-sized  mounds  are  seldom  discerni 
ble  at  the  present  day,  but  depressions  plainly  mark  the  points 
about  the  larger  works,  as  the  Cahokia  and  Etowah  mounds  and 
some  of  the  enclosures  of  Ohio  and  elsewhere.1  In  some  cases  the 
one  act  has  been  made  to  serve  two  purposes,  that  is  to  say,  the 
earth  used  to  construct  the  mound  or  other  work  has  been  taken 
from  one  or  two  points  so  as  to  leave  a  basin-shaped  excavation 
for  holding  water,  or  to  form  a  trench  to  serve  as  a  protective 
moat,  or  for  drainage  or  other  purposes."  For  a  long  time  it  was 
believed  by  a  great  many  persons,  scientific  and  otherwise,  that 
these  piles  of  earth,  often  called  pyramids  quite  erroneously,  could 
not  have  been  made  by  ordinary  Amerinds,  but  as  the  study  of  the 
native  American  proceeded  and  the  data  of  what  he  did  and  does 
actually  do  began  to  be  recorded,  it  was  perfectly  plain  that  it  was 
not  at  all  necessary  to  look  beyond  the  "  Indian  "  for  the  origin  of 
the  mounds — that  is,  beyond  the  "  Indian  "  as  he  was  known  in  the 
region  where  the  mounds  occur.  It  was  found  that  he  had 
erected  mounds  after  the  arrival  of  the  whites,  and  if  he  built  one 
or  several  he  might  have  built  all.  It  was  not  a  very  difficult  op 
eration  to  dig  up  earth  and  carry  it  a  few  hundred  feet  and  drop 
it  on  a  pile.  The  transportation  of  the  stones  referred  to  above 
was  far  more  laborious,  and  modern  Amerinds  do  a  great  deal 
harder  work.  The  Navajos  are  fairly  good  labourers,  and  the  Mo- 
kis  carry  all  their  wood  from  forests  fifteen  miles  away.  It  is  work 
to  carry  water  up  the  cliffs  where  the  Mokis  live,  it  is  work  to 
hoe  the  corn,  it  is  work  to  tend  and  herd  sheep.  On  full  investiga 
tion  it  seems  strange  that  it  should  ever  have  been  thought  that 
the  mounds  were  not  "  Indian"  because  they  represented  work. 
Fowke  has  estimated  that  a  mound  a  hundred  feet  in  diameter 
and  twenty  feet  high  could  have  been  erected  by  the  "  Indians  " 
in  forty-two  days.  I  have  seen  Uingkaret  Utes  in  Arizona  carrj- 
on  their  backs  with  ease  for  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  loads  that 
would  average  about  thirty  or  forty  pounds.  People  who  can  do 
this  could  carry  earth  in  short  stretches  for  forty  or  fifty  days.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  the  mounds  were  not  built  by  steady 
and  consecutive  labour,  but  rather  by  intermittent  effort,  after  the 
usual  fashion  of  Amerindian  work. 

1  The  great  Cahokia  mound  in  Illinois  is  seven  hundred  feet  by  five 
hundred  feet  on  the  ground.    For  illustration  of  Etowah  mound  see  page  337. 


344  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


From  New  York 


Many  mounds  and  earthworks  were  erected  for  defensive 
purposes  at  points  controlling  river  passages  or  trails,  where  the  ad 
vance  of  foes  invad 
ing  a  country  could 
be  checked.  There 
were  also  fortifica 
tion  works  like  the 
so-called  "hill- 
forts"  of  the  east 
ern  portion  of  the 
United  States,  and 
the  "cerros  trin- 
cheras  "  of  northern 
Mexico.  Quot 
ing  again  from 
Thomas,1  one  of 
the  best  authorities 
on  mounds  and 
"Moundbuilders"  : 
''The  most  exten 
sive  example  of  the 
'  hill-forts  '  is  that 
known  as  Fort 
Ancient,  in  War 
ren  County,  Ohio. 
This  crowns  a  spur 
of  the  bluff  some 
two  hundred  and 
fifty  or  three  hun 
dred  feet  high, 
which  here  over 
hangs  the  Miami 
River.  The  area 
embraced  is  only 
some  seventy  -  five 
or  eighty  acres,  but  the  length  of  the  wall,  which  follows  all 
the  windings  and  zigzags  of  the  margin  of  the  bluff  and  of  the 
side  ravines,  is  a  little  over  three  miles  and  a  half.  This  is  one 
of  the  best-preserved  monuments  of  the  Ohio  valley,  the  surround- 
1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Study  of  North  American  Archeology,  p.  125. 


From  Illinois 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth.  From  Tennessee 

PATTERNS  OF  ANCIENT  FABRICS  FROM  POTTERY 
See  page  108 


Works  and  Agriculture 


345 


ing  wall  being  uninjured  save  at  points  where  the  turnpike  cuts 
through  it,  and  at  a  few  places  where  ravines  have  been  formed 
since  it  was  abandoned.  This  wall,  which  is  partty  of  stone,  but 
chiefly  of  dirt  thrown  up  from  the  inner  or  upper  side,  varies  in 
height  from  three  or  four  to  nineteen  feet,  and  from  twenty-five  to 
seventy  feet  in  width  at  the  base.  As  the  earth  has  all  been  taken 
from  the  inside  (except  along  the  high  wall  which  crosses  the  level 
at  the  rear)  and  thrown  outward  on  the  crest  of  the  slope,  this  has 
left  an  inside  ditch.  As  a  rule,  the  wall  is  strongest  and  highest  at 
the  points  of  easiest  approach  ;  and  at  some  places  the  outside  slope 
has  been  artificially 
steepened,  proving  be 
yond  any  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  work 
was  one  of  defence." 

The  Amerinds, 
though  not  always  en 
gaged  in  war,  were 
always  on  the  defens 
ive  against  stronger 
tribes  whose  warriors 
might  appear  on  the 
scene.  These  stronger 
tribes  were  not  neces 
sarily  Amerinds  of  a 
different  stock  or 
strangers  ;  often,  as  in 
the  South-wTest,  de 
fensive  works  were 
erected  against  relat 
ives  as  much  as 
against  different 
tribes,  just  as  we,  in 
our  time,  have  had 

three  wars  that  were  not  with  another  race.  In  New  Mexico  the 
villages,  besides  being  built  on  the  communal  principle,  were  often 
surrounded  by  a  defensive  wall.  Such  a  wall  can  still  be  traced 
around  the  ruins  of  Pecos,  as  well  as  in  parts  at  other  ruins.  The 
hill-forts  of  the  Ohio  kind  were  undoubtedly  the  result  of  circum 
stances  similar  to  those  that  prevailed  in  the  South-west :  a  desire 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

ESKIMO    MECHANICAL   TOY. 


346  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

to  combine  as  closely  as  possible  defence  and  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  They  were  often  interdependent.  If  conditions  changed,  or 
a  tribe  grew  strong  enough  to  dominate  the  situation,  the  defences 
might  be  abandoned.  These  works  do  not  necessarily  imply  that 
their  builders  were  defeated  and  driven  back  by  wilder  tribes. 
They  indicate  only  that  the  builders  felt  defensive  works  necessary 
at  the  time  of  the  building  ;  their  circumstances  then  demanded 
them.  They  do  not  indicate  difference  in  race  or  remote  origin. 
The  constructors  were  Amerinds,  though  not  all  one  stock.  There 
were  tribes  of  different  stocks  in  the  Mississippi  valley  all  the 
time,  just  as  there  were  in  other  parts  of  the  land,  and  the  attempt 
that  has  been  made  by  some  writers  to  establish  the  idea  that  the 
Mississippi  valley  was  once  occupied  by  a  single  mysterious  race 
that  was  overpowered  and  driven  out  or  exterminated  by  the 
"  Indians  "  has  no  good  foundation. 

One  of  the  most  extensive  groups  of  these  defensive  village 
sites  is  that  known  as  the  Newark  group,  in  Ohio.1  Here  are  cir 
cles,  squares,  and  straight-line  mounds,  all  connected,  covering  an 
area  of  two  or  three  square  miles.  There  are  two  large  circles  in 
this  group  which  approximate  true  circles,  and  have  been  the 
basis  of  much  unnecessary  speculation  as  to  how  "  Indians  "  could 
have  "  done  it,"  with  the  conclusion  that  the  "  mysterious  race  " 
did  it.  When  it  is  remembered  how  easy  it  is  to  construct  a  fairly 
accurate  circle  in  a  great  many  ways,  it  is  surprising  that  anyone 
should  have  thought  "  Indians"  could  not  do  it,  when  they  did 
and  do  so  many  things  that  require  more  skill.  One  clear-headed 
and  accurate  writer  reminds  the  reader  that  people  who  could 
manufacture  cloth  could  certainly  make  a  rope  with  which  to  lay 
out  a  plan.  Almost  all  Amerinds  could  make  rope,  the  Pai  Ute, 
Uingkarets,  and  Shevwits  Utes,  who  cannot  make  cloth  at  all, 
making  excellent  rope  and  cord.  But  it  was  not  necessary  to 
make  a  rope  of  fibre.  Amerinds  have  always  been  skilful  at  tan 
ning  deerskins,  and  buckskin  strings  braided  make  one  of  the 
best  kind  of  ropes  ;  indeed,  it  does  not  even  require  to  be  tanned, 
as  it  can  be  worked  in  the  rawhide  state.  We  should  have  to  de 
scend  low  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  indeed,  to  find  a  tribe  that 
could  not  make  a  cord  long  enough  to  lay  out  any  circle  yet  dis 
covered  on  this  continent.  There  is  nothing  difficult  about  it. 

1  Gerard  Fowke  describes  in  the  American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  ii, 
No.  3,  "  Points  of  difference  between  Norse  Remains  and  Indian  works." 


Works  and  Agriculture  347 

The  largest  circle  at  Newark  has  a  diameter  of  about  a  thousand 
feet.     This  would  require  a  rope  only  five  hundred  feet  long, 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu.  George  Catlin,  1832 

MAHTOTOHPA   (THE    FOUR    BEARS),    A    MANDAN    CHIEF 

which  would  be  nothing  for  any  tribe  on  the  continent  to  make. 
Just  why  the  Newark   works   have   the   particular   arrange 
ment  they  have  would  be  impossible  to  say  without  knowing  the 


348  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

customs  of  the  tribe  that  built  them  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
time.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  some  enclosures  were  farm 
fences.  The  plan  suggests  two  communal  villages,  closely  allied 
and  united  by  a  sort  of  runway,  which,  while  preventing  hos- 
tiles  from  .separating  the  two  villages  in  time  of  attack,  always 
afforded  a  safe  passage  for  the  women  and  children  from  one  town 
to  the  other.  The  builders  were  evidently  beset  by  enemies  at  the 
time  the  works  were  occupied,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  when  the  works  were  abandoned  the  occupants  were  driven 
out  or  annihilated,  for  their  enemies  may  have  been  people  of  their 
own  stock  with  whom  they  eventually  became  reconciled,  or  the 
enemies  may  have  passed  on  to  other  fields,  or  the  occupants  of 
the  works  may  have  grown  more  powerful  and  at  length  have 
assumed  the  offensive.  Abandoned  works,  I  repeat,  do  not  neces 
sarily  mean  annihilation  of  the  builders.  The  South-west  offers 
countless  examples  of  the  truth  of  this  statement.  Villages  and 
works  were  abandoned  there  for  a  variety  of  causes  ;  sometimes  it 
was  little  more  than  caprice.  Quoting  Thomas  again  :  "  Nor  is 
the  theory  that,  while  some  of  the  monuments  are  due  to  the 
Indians,  others  are  to  be  ascribed  to  a  different  race,  justified  by 
the  data,  or  reasonable,  as  no  one  is  able  to  define  the  characters 
which  distinguish  the  classes.  If  the  Indians  built  mounds  of  the 
most  advanced  type  and  of  large  size,  as  history  shows  positively 
the  natives  of  the  Gulf  States  did,  there  is  no  necessity  for  attrib 
uting  the  works  of  the  middle  and  northern  sections  to  a  different 
race.  That  the  Moundbuilders  were  divided  into  various  and 
often  contending  tribes,  is  shown  by  the  works  for  defence  and 
protection,  as  also  by  the  evidences  of  varying  customs.  Yet 
there  is  nothing  in  the  antiquities  to  indicate  a  higher  culture  than 
that  of  the  southern  Indians  or  a  greater  difference  between  the 
people  of  the  different  sections  than  existed  among  the  natives 
when  first  encountered  by  the  whites."  Granting  this,  there  is 
still  nothing  to  prove  that  some  of  these  tribes  did  not  come 
from  a  long  distance  off,  for  the  Amerinds  very  often  have  been 
travellers. 

Few  mounds  or  earthworks  are  found  east  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  north  of  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina,  but  to  my 
mind  this  is  not  positive  proof  that  the  people  who  built  earthworks 
in  other  places  did  not  live  there.  The  Amerind  changes  his 
methods  so  completely  when  circumstances  demand,  that  it  would 


American  Museum 


Photographed  and  described  by  M.  H.  Saville  for  the  American  Museum  Bulleti >i.  vol.  xiii. 
article  xi.,  July  q,  1900 

AN    ONYX    JAR    FROM    MEXICO    IN    I'ROCESS    OF    MANUFACTURE 

Three-eighths  natural  size 
The  excavating  was  being  done  by  a  hollow  drill,  probably  of  reed,  and  sand 

349 


350  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

not  be  safe  to  say  that  those  who  built  mounds  west  of  the  Alle- 
gliany  range  did  not  live  east  of  it.  If  the  Mokis  should  have 
migrated  to  Ohio  in  priscan  days,  they  certainly  would  not  have 
built  stone  houses  there.  They  would  have  erected  mounds  and 
wooden  houses,  for  the  reason  that  the  stone  would  have  been 
difficult  to  secure.  Many  tribes  have  readily  changed  from  one 
method  to  another  in  building,  as  pointed  out  in  a  previous 
chapter.  With  the  Amerind,  it  depends  so  much  on  circumstances 
what  he  will  do  in  a  given  locality.  For  example,  the  traditions 
of  the  Mokis  require  their  kiva  to  be  under  ground.  This  is  easy 
in  their  cliff-land,  but  how  would  it  be  in  Louisiana  ?  Even  in 
Zuni  surface  kivas  are  found  acceptable. 

In  Mexico  there  are  numerous  large  mounds  which,  as  noted 
before,  sustained  buildings,  now  commonly  called  "temples." 
"At  Teotihuacan  "  says  Charnay,  "the  pyramid  of  the  Sun  is 
'six  hundred  and  eighty  feet  at  the  base  by  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  high.  .  .  .  Like  all  great  pyramids  they  [the 
Sun  and  Moon  pyramids]  were  divided  into  four  storeys,  three 
of  which  are  still  visible,  but  the  intermediate  gradations  are 
almost  effaced.  A  temple  stood  on  the  summit  of  the  large 
mound,  having  a  colossal  statue  of  the  Sun,  made  of  one  single 
block  of  stone.  .  .  .  The  interior  of  the  pyramid  is  com 
posed  of  clay  and  volcanic  pebbles,  incrusted  on  the  surface 
with  the  light  porous  stone,  tetzontli.  Over  this  was  a  thick  coat 
ing  of  white  stucco  such  as  was  used  for  dwellings.  Where  the 
pyramid  is  much  defaced,  its  incline  is  from  31  to  36  degrees,  and 
where  the  coatings  of  cement  still  adhere  47  degrees. ' '  '  One  of 
the  largest  mounds  in  Mexico  and  one  of  the  largest  in  North 
America  is  the  Great  Mound  of  Cholula.  It  is  about  one  thousand 
feet  square  at  the  base,  of  which  the  approximate  area  is  over 
twenty  acres.  It  now  has  much  the  appearance  of  a  natural  hill, 
surmounted  by  a  church  of  modern  construction.  There  are 
"  three  distinct  projections,  surrounding  and  supporting  a  conical 
hill,  and  separated  from  each  other  by  wide  depressions.  The 
entire  mass  consists  of  adobe  bricks  laid  in  adobe  clay,  undisturbed 
except  where  erosion,  earthquakes,  or  the  hand  of  man  have  muti 
lated  it.  The  bricks  break  joints  and  are  of  various  sizes. ' '  The 
altitude  is  about  two  hundred  feet.  Limestone  slabs  were  used 

1  Ancient  Cities. 

2  Ad.  Bandelier,  Arch&ological  Tour,  p.  233  et  seq. 


Works  and  Agriculture  351 

for  steps.  Bandelier  does  not  ascribe  it  to  the  Aztec  or  Nahuatl 
stock  which  occupied  the  region  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  but 
to  some  anterior  tribe. 

It  has  been  called  a  pyramid,  with  other  mounds  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  but  this  is  not  a  proper  term  for  these 
Amerindian  works. 

They  have  not  the  character  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  nor 
were  they  constructed  with  the  same  object.  The  pyramids  were 
tombs,  while  the  large  Amerind  mounds  were  foundations  for 
buildings.  Almost  every  ancient  building  of  any  consequence  in 
Mexico  and  adjoining  regions,  as  well  as  far  up  into  the  United 
States,  stood  on  a  mound  of  greater  or  less  elevation.  The  so-called 
' '  palace ' '  of  Palenque,  in  which  Stevens  lived  while  studying  the 
ruins,  "  stands  on  an  artificial  elevation  of  an  oblong  form,  forty 
feet  high,  three  hundred  and  ten  feet  in  front  and  rear,  and  two 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  on  each  side.  This  elevation  was  formerly 
faced  with  stone,  which  has  been  thrown  down  by  the  growth  of 
trees,  and  its  form  is  hardly  distinguishable."  See  illustration  of 
a  part  of  this  palace,  page  403. 

The  chief  ruins  at  Copan  are  all  on  a  huge  mound,  and  at 
Mitla  the  edifices  have  mound  foundations,  or  rather  platforms. 
A  more  or  less  elevated  site  for  his  dwelling-place  or  temple, 
whether  natural  or  artificial,  seems  to  have  been  almost  universal 
with  the  Amerindian  people  from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  British 
Columbia.  The  amount  of  labour  expended  in  constructing  the 
artificial  foundation  platforms  and  mounds  was  something 
prodigious. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

WOODEN    FOOD    BOWL,  HAIDA 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
DANCING  MASK  OF   THE  MAKAHS,  WASHINGTON 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CUSTOMS  AND  CEREMONIES 

FEW  Europeans  can  look  at  the  world  from  the  Amerind 
point  of  view,  because  few  know  what  it  means  to  have 
lands  free.  Happy  the  man  who  has  trod  the  wilderness 
primeval,  and  tasted  the  world  in  its  original  freshness.  _He  alone 
can  understand  what  the  Amerind  has  lost  forever.  When  I  first 
went  into  the  West  about  thirty  years  ago,  the  regions  we  tra 
versed  were  untamed,  and  often  we  did  not  meet  even  Amerinds 
for  weeks  at  a  time.  Such  a  condition  has  its  charms,  and  when 
we  remember  that,  except  in  the  southern  regions  of  Mexico,  the 
native  American  was  born  and  bred  to  it,  we  can  see  that  it  must 
be  a  difficult  matter  for  him  to  suddenly  change.  But  a  few  genera 
tions  hence,  where  once  he  scaled  the  cliffs,  or  followed  the  deer, 
he  will  be  sitting  down  to  a  course  dinner  in  a  swallow-tail  coat. 
He  has  already  conquered  at  football,  and  the  rest  of  the  down 
ward  road  will  be  easy  for  him  ! 

Our  general  impression  of  the  native  American,  the  Amerind, 
is  that  he  is  a  kind  of  human  demon,  or  wild  animal,  never  to  be 
trusted,  unable  to  keep  a  compact,  always  thirsting  for  gore  ;  but 
it  is  a  mistake.  He  is  not  altogether  unreliable.  The  Iroquois 

352 


Customs  and  Ceremonies 


353 


maintained  the  ' '  covenant  chain  ' '  with  the  British  unbroken  for 
a  round  century.  The  Amerind  never  broke-faith  with  Penn,  and 
it  is  seldom  that  he  will  violate  any  compact  that  he  fully  under 
stands  he  has  entered  into.  His  daily  life  in  the  earlier  days  was 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

MOKI  WICKER  CRADLE  WITH  AWNING  CARRYING  BASKET  OF  THE  ARIKAREES 

In  the  smaller  figure  the  awning  is  over  the  bowed  end 

by  no  means  bloodthirsty.  Powell  has  truly  said  that  the  scalp- 
ing-knife  was  no  more  the  emblem  of  pre-Columbian  society 
than  the  bayonet  is  of  ours  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the 
United  States  existence  of  a  trifle  over  a  hundred  years  have 
been  waged  several  long  and  bloody  wars,  one  the  most  gigantic 
known  to  history,  all  police  records  are  full  of  horrible  crimes 
the  Amerind  was  a  stranger  to.  and  within  a  year  or  so  white 
people  have  burned  alive  several  victims.  When  anyone  defends 
the  Amerind  he  is  accused  of  trying  to  make  an  angel  of  him, 
23 


354  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

but  this  only  shows  again  how  universally  unjust  toward  him 
we  are.  We  are  blind  to  our  own  shortcomings  and  exaggerate 
those  of  the  Amerind.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  weaker  race 
should  be  forced  to  the  wall,  but  we  can  at  least  give  it  credit 
for  any  good  that  was  in  it  without  injuring  ourselves.  In 
estimating  their  traits  we  do  not  regard  them  enough  from 
their  own  standpoint,  and  without  so  regarding  them  we  can 
not  understand  them.  The  Amerind  was  something  of  a  farmer, 
of  an  architect,  of  an  engineer,  of  a  statesman,  of  an  artist, 
the  amount  and  quality  of  his  interest  in  these  things  de 
pending,  as  with  us,  on  circumstances.  In  most  localities,  he 
achieved  for  all  what  all  are  with  us  still  dreaming  to  attain,  "lib 
erty  and  a  living,"  and  his  methods  of  government  possessed  ad 
mirable  qualities.  We  call  him  lazy  and  despise  him  for  it,  but 
many  of  our  people  would  not  work  if  they  could  avoid  it.  One 
of  Balzac's  characters  is  made  to  say  :  "  I  fear  God  ;  but  I  am  still 
more  afraid  of  the  hell  of  poverty.  To  be  without  a  penny  is  the 
last  degree  of  misery  in  our  present  social  state."  The  great  phil 
osopher  here  put  European  life  in  a  nut-shell.  The  Amerind  was 
fortunate  perhaps  in  not  knowing  what  poverty,  as  we  understand 
it,  is.  With  him  the  keen  eye,  the  woodman's  skill,  and  a  gener 
ous  and  abundant  soil  gave  him  his  daily  bread.  The  idea  of 
piling  up  treasure  for  the  satisfaction  of  holding  it  did  not  occur  to 
him  any  more  than  did  killing  of  game  for  pleasure.  A  tribe  may 
have  passed  through  famine,  but  the  individual  never  knew 
hunger  in  the  midst  of  riches,  as  the  civilised  man  so  often  meets 
it.  Not  long  ago  a  whole  family  ^wandering  about  the  streets  of 
New  York,  homeless  and  without  food,  dropped  from  exhaustion 
at  the  corner  of  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Broadway.  In  Amerind 
society,  such  an  occurrence  would  have  been  impossible.  No 
friendly  stranger  ever  left  an  Amerind  village  hungry,  if  that 
village  had  a  supply  of  food.  And  "the  hungry  Indian,"  says 
Powell,  "had  but  to  ask  to  receive,  and  this  no  matter  how  small 
the  supply  or  how  dark  the  future  prospect.  It  was  not  only  his 
privilege  to  ask,  it  was  his  right  to  demand." 

The  Amerind  distribution  of  food  was  based  on  long  custom, 
on  tribal  laws  ;  food  was  regarded  like  air  and  water,  as  a  neces 
sity  that  should  in  distress  be  without  money  and  without  price. 
Hospitality  was  a  law,  and  was  everywhere  observed  faithfully 
till  intercourse  with  the  methods  of  our  race  demolished  it. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

TLINKIT   MAN    AND    WOMAN,    30   YEARS   AGO,    OR    ABOUT    1 870 

41  The  labret,  a  small  cylinder  of  silver  with  a  broad  head,  is  the  modern  style  of  lip  ornament, 

differing  materially  from  the  large  ones  worn  until  a  few  years  ago." — Niblack 

Many  tribes  wore  lip,  nose,  and  ear  ornaments 


355 


356  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Among  isolated  tribes  it  is  still  observed.  Among  the  Mokis  a 
hungry  man  of  any  colour  is  cheerfully  fed. 

We  cannot  seriously  condemn  the  Amerind  for  not  jumping  at 
the  opportunity  to  tie  himself  to  the  plough,  or  to  the  ledger,  or 
the  grindstone.  He  was,  as  a  rule,  close  to  Nature,  and  like  all 
men  who  live  thus  he  imbibed  some  of  her  grandeur.  He  lived  in 
independence  ;  and  when  he  died,  he  died  as  the  sun  sets  at  even 
ing,  expiring  in  glory,  without  a  tear,  without  lamentations.  In 
the  hands  of  the  enemy  at  the  stake,  his  passing  away  was  sub 
lime,  like  the  summer  cloud  that  sails  steadily  out  into  the  infinite 
blue  and  dissolves.  The  most  painful  tortures  failed  to  bring  a 
moan  to  his  lips,  or  a  tear  to  his  defiant  eye,  and  his  proud  spirit 
departed  in  silence.  An  offer  of  liberty  was  frequently  refused. 
Charnay  tells  of  a  Tlaxcaltec  chief,  of  great  fame  as  a  warrior, 
who  was  captured  and  who,  on  being  recognised,  was  offered  his 
freedom.  He  refused  to  accept  it  and  desired  to  be  devoted  to  the 
gods,  as  was  the  custom.  He  was  tied  to  the  gladiatorial  stone, 
where  he  killed  eight  warriors  and  wounded  twenty  others  before 
being  overpowered  and  offered  up  to  the  war-god. 

The  habit  of  mind  and  body  of  dense  commercial  populations 
tends  toward  degeneration  because  it  is  a  concentration  in  one 
line.  The  Western  mountaineer  exhibits  the  effect  of  removal  from 
trade  considerations  in  a  repose  of  manner  and  a  tranquillity  of 
nerves  which  strongly  suggest  the  Amerind.  "  There  are  incom 
mensurable  differences, ' '  says  Balzac,  ' '  between  the  man  who  min 
gles  with  others  and  him  who  dwells  with  Nature.  Once  cap 
tured,  Toussaint  Louverture  died  without  uttering  a  word,  while 
Napoleon  on  his  rock  chattered  like  a  magpie." 

Freedom  of  limb  and  strength  of  mind  eliminated  much  dis 
ease  from  the  native  races.  Deformity  amongst  Amerinds  was 
rare.  There  were  seldom  cases  of  diseased  spine,  blindness,  in 
sanity,  squinting  eyes,  deafness,  or  any  deficiency  or  excess  of  the 
organs.1  Sitting  Bull  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Amerind,  and  he 
was  a  man  of  great  ability.  Such  men  could  not  be  enslaved,  and 
from  the  first  the  European  efforts  to  reduce  the  red  race  to 
slavery  were  failures.  They  held  their  own  in  most  localities, 
and  often  compelled  governments  to  treat  with  them  as  with  a  sov 
ereign  power.  Where  the  treaties  were  kept  by  the  other  side  the 

1  Contact  with  civilisation  has,  however,  changed  the  average  health  in 
many  if  not  all  tribes. 


Photographed  by  J.  K.  Killers,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 
A   PAWNEE    IN    BATTLE    ARRAY 


357 


358  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

Amerind  seldom  violated  them.  Penn  never  had  any  difficulty 
because  he  treated  the  Amerinds  fairly  and  honourably.  Ofiate, 
in  his  long  journey  across  Arizona,  had  no  conflict  with  the  natives, 
but  found  them  without  exception  friendly,  and  this  was  the  ex 
perience  of  other  explorers  who  were  just.  The  native  was  a 
child.  He  expected  absolute  fidelity  and  truthfulness  from  the 
whites,  though  he  did  not  always  give  this  in  return  ;  once  let 
him  detect  prevarication  or  deceit,  and  his  confidence  vanished. 
He  never  forgave  a  white  man  for  talking  "  crooked,"  and  those 
who  have  been  invariably  truthful  and  honourable  toward  him 
have  commanded  trust  and  respect.  I  know  two  men  who  had 
great  influence  over  the  Navajos  because  they  had  always  been 
fair  and  just  to  them.  "  We  call  them  cruel,"  says  George  Ban 
croft,  "yet  they  never  invented  the  thumb-screw,  or  the  boot, 
or  the  rack,  or  broke  on  the  wheel,  or  exiled  bands  of  their  nations 
for  opinion's  sake  ;  and  never  protected  the  monopoly  of  a  medi 
cine  man  by  the  gallows,  or  the  block,  or  by  fire.  There  is  not 
a  quality  belonging  to  the  white  man  which  did  not  also  belong 
to  the  American  savage  ;  there  is  not  among  the  aborigines  a  rule 
of  language,  a  custom,  or  an  institution  which  when  considered 
in  its  principle  has  not  a  counterpart  among  their  conquerors."  J 
Throughout  the  continent  there  was  a  general  homogeneity  of 
customs  and  ceremonies  which  separates  the  Amerindian  races  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  argues  an  immense  period  of  isolation 
from  all  other  people. 

Some  tribes  have  become  civilised,  like  the  Iroquois,  the  Chero- 
kees,  and  the  Choctaws.  Some  tribes  of  Arizona  and  the  contigu 
ous  regions  are  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  living  a  rude  life, 
even  for  Amerinds,  and  subsisting  on  uncultivated  products  of  the 
soil,  like  pinon  nuts,  fruits  of  cactus  and  yucca,  " yant,"  a  kind 
of  agave,  and  seeds  of  grasses,  as  well  as  "on  what  game  the  sterile 
region  affords.  The  grass  seeds  are,  some  of  them,  large  and  fat, 
and  make  nutritious  food.  Many  tribes  cultivated  a  grain  that 
has  no  superior  in  the  world  for  its  yield,  its  ease  of  cultivation, 
and  its  nutritious  qualities.  This  was  maize,  or  Indian  corn, 
which  grows  in  new  ground  with  little  attention,  and  can  be  dried 
and  stored  indefinitely.  No  machinery  was  required  to  separate 
it  from  the  husk,  and  it  was  easily  reduced  to  meal  or  flour  be 
tween  two  stones  or  in  a  mortar.  Nor  did  it  even  need  to  be 
1  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i. 


•  VFRS1TY 


360  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

ground,  but,  roasted  in  pits,  or  prepared  in  other  ways,  it  offered  a 
palatable  and  nutritious  food,  even  before  the  ripening.  Dried,  or 
parched,  it  was  carried  on  journeys,  and  dried  venison  added  to  it 
made  a  strengthening  diet.  There  were,  besides,  other  foods,  like 
beans,  squashes,  native  fruits  and  berries,  and  nuts.  Nor  was  the 
native  without  beverages,  some  of  them  intoxicating  ;  the  pulque,  or 
octli  of  the  Mexicans,  extracted  from  the  maguey,  being  a  well- 
known  example.  There  are  many  varieties  of  this  drink,  though 
all  are  made  in  the  same  way.  In  the  spring  the  central  part  of  the 
plant  is  removed,  leaving  a  cup-like  cavity  which  fills  up  with 
juice,  that  is  taken  out  from  time  to  time,  and  put  into  a  kind  of 
vat  made  of  hide  stretched  on  four  poles.  After  fermentation, 
bitter  herbs  are  added.  Mescal  is  another  drink  made  from  a 
smaller  kind  of  maguey.  It  is  a  colourless,  brandy-like  liquid,  pro 
duced  by  distillation  since  the  Conquest,  but  before  that  made  by 
boiling,  just  as  the  Comanches  make  it  to-day.1  The  Kaivavits 
and  Uinkarets  made  a  kind  of  wine  out  of  the  fruit  of  the  cactus. 
The  fruit  was  put  into  a  cloth  and  the  juice  squeezed  out.  This 
was  then  allowed  to  ferment,  and  I  was  told  produced  intoxication, 
though  I  never  observed  this  result.  The  cake  resulting  from  the 
process  was  consumed  as  food,  being  sliced  down  like  bread,  and 
eaten  without  further  preparation.  The  Pimas  and  Maricopas, 
after  drying  cactus  fruit  in  the  sun,  macerate  it  in  water,  and  after 
fermentation  get  drunk  on  the  compound. 

Tortillas  were  made  of  maize,  "  shelled  and  soaked  in  an  alkali 
to  remove  the  hull,  then  repeatedly  washed  in  cold  water."  2 
This  product  was  then  ground  on  a  metate,  beaten  into  flat 
cakes,  and  baked  on  an  earthen  griddle  called  comalli.  Tiste  was 
parched  corn  ground  with  chocolate  and  sugar  and  mixed  with 
water.  Atolli  was  a  drink  made  of  cornmeal  cooked  in  water. 
Chocolatl  was  prepared  ' '  by  grinding  equal  parts  of  cacao  beans 
and  seeds  of  pochotl  or  sequoia,  which  were  then  boiled.  This 
liquid  was  shaken  up  to  make  it  frothy,  mixed  with  dough  made 
of  maize  and  then  submitted  to  a  new  cooking  to  thicken  it." 

No  tribe  learned  to  use  the  milk  of  any  animal.  The  bison 
was  about  the  only  native  animal  that  offered  any.  In  the  whisky 
of  the  whites  they  found  their  fate,  and  this  has  done  more  than  any 

1  For  further  details  of  the  Mexican  drinks,  see  Charnay's  Ancient 
Cities. 

•  Squier,  Nicaragua,  p.  272.  3  Biart,  The  Aztecs,  p.  290. 


Customs  and  Ceremonies 


other  single  cause  except  smallpox  to  destroy  the  race.  For  it  they 
exchanged  tobacco,  and  the  white  man  smokes  as  the  Amerind 
drinks. 

Beckwourth,  referring  to  the  trading  of  the  mixture  of  alco 
hol  and  water  called  whisky  on  the  frontier  in  his  day,  to  the 
natives,  remarks:  "This  trading  whisky  for  Indian  property  is 
one  of  the  most  infernal  practices  ever  entered  into  by  man.  L,et 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


UTE    WOMAN    CARRYING    CHILD 


the  reader  sit  down  and  figure  up  the  profits  on  a  forty-gallon 
cask  of  alcohol,  and  he  will  be  thunderstruck,  or,  rather,  whisky- 
struck.  When  disposed  of,  four  gallons  of  water  are  added  to  each 
gallon  of  alcohol.  In  two  hundred  gallons  there  are  sixteen 
hundred  pints,  for  each  one  of  which  the  trader  gets  a  buffalo  robe 


362  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

worth  five  dollars  !     The  Indian  women  toil  many  long  weeks  to 
dress  these  sixteen  hundred  robes.      The  white  trader  gets  them  all 


A/flcfl 


KEOKUK,   A    SAUK    CHIEF 


for  worse  than  nothing,  for  the  poor  Indian  mother  hides  herself  and 
children  in  the  forests  until  the  effect  of  the  poison  passes  away 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  363 

from  the  husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers  who  love  them  when  they 
have  no  whisky,  and  abuse  and  kill  them  when  they  have.  .  .  . 
In  short,  the  sixty  gallons  of  fire-water  realised  to  the  company 
over  eleven  hundred  robes  and  eighteen  horses,  worth  in  St. 
L/ouis  six  thousand  dollars." 

These  were  the  honourable  methods  employed  by  the  fur  com 
panies.  They  .secured  from  the  Amerinds  thousands  on  thousands 
of  dollars'  worth  of  valuable  property  for,  as  Beckwourth  says, 
"  worse  than  nothing,"  and  no  man  knew  better  than  he  the  fear 
ful  effect  of  the  fire-water  on  the  native.  To-day  there  are  a  great 
many  white  men  engaged  in  the  same  traffic,  despite  the  govern 
ment's  efforts  to  crush  it  out.  And  still  we  cannot  understand 
why  the  "  Indian  has  degenerated  "  ! 

A  Cheyenne  chief  said  :  "  White  man,  I  have  given  you  my 
robes,  which  my  warriors  have  spent  months  in  hunting,  and 
which  my  women  have  slaved  a  whole  year  in  dressing  ;  and  what 
do  you  give  me  in  return  ?  I  have  nothing.  You  give  me  fire 
water,  which  makes  me  and  my  people  mad  ;  and  it  is  gone,  and 
we  have  nothing  to  hunt  more  buffalo  with,  and  to  fight  our 
enemies."  2 

I  never  saw  an  Amerind  smoke  as  much  tobacco  in  a  week  as 
I  have  seen  Americans  or  English  smoke  in  a  single  day.  Tobacco 
and  the  pipe  were  part  of  the  Amerindian  religious  paraphernalia. 
The  pipe  seems  not  to  have  been  much  used  for  ordinary  smoking 
among  the  Nahuatl  or  Mexican  tribes,  nor  among  the  sedentary 
tribes  of  our  South-west.  They  used  the  cigarette  chiefly,  leaving 
the  pipe  for  ceremonials,  while  the  West  Indian  tribes  rolled  the 
leaf  up  for  smoking.  Many  Eastern  tribes  cultivated  tobacco  ex 
tensively  and  were  able  to  sell  it  to  traders.  It  was  generally 
mixed  with  other  leaves  and  bark  for  smoking,  and  among  the 
Eskimo  with  wood.  The  exact  place  of  the  pipe  in  the  ceremonials 
of  the  Eastern  tribes  is  not  yet  thoroughly  understood,  but  its 
function  was  always  an  important  one.3  Among  the  Iroquois, 

1  The  Life  and  Adventures  of  James  P.   Beckwourth,    Mountaineer, 
Scout,  and  Pioneer,  and  Chief  of  the  Crow  Nation  of  Indians,  p.  444. 
Harper  Bros.,   1856. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  445. 

3  The  council  was  opened  by  the  sachem  puffing  smoke  from  the  pipe 
over  the  heads  of  the  assembly,  and  then  each  councillor  in  turn  drawing 
at  the  pipe.     This  accomplished,  business  was  begun. 


364  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

when  the  horizon  was  filled  with  "  thunderheads,"  or  "  sons  of 
thunder,"  in  a  period  of  drought,  it  was  a  custom  to  burn  tobacco, 
as  an  offering  to  bring  rain.  Each  family  made  an  offering  on 
its  secret  altar  to  Hinun,  God  of  Thunder,  and  then  bore  a  por 
tion  to  the  council-house,  where  a  general  offering  was  burned  in 
the  council  fire.  "  While  the  tobacco  was  burning  the  agile  and 
athletic  danced  the  rain  dance."  ' 

The  Eskimo  of  Alaska,  it  is  asserted,  will  eat  with  relish  the 
oily  refuse  from  the  bottom  of  a  pipe,  and  they  are  also  fond  of 
the  ashes  of  tobacco.  The  smoke  is  deeply  inhaled  by  them,  as  by 
all  the  tribes.  Among  the  Arikarees  a  special  pipe  was  kept  in  a 
"  bird  box."  Any  criminal  or  enemy  who  could  reach  this  box 
and  smoke  the  pipe  was  free  from  molestation.  This  right  of 
asylum  is  noticed  in  other  ways.  It  is  said  that  the  first  whites 
who  came  among  the  Apaches,  tired  and  hungry,  were  not  molested 
by  them.  Everywhere,  if  an  enemy  were  permitted  to  smoke  the 
pipe  or  partake  of  food  with  the  Amerinds  he  was  absolutely  safe 
for  the  time  being,  both  because  of  the  pipe  and  because  the  law 
of  hospitality  was  never  violated.  If  Macbeth  had  been  an 
Amerind  no  blood  would  have  been  shed  on  that  fatal  night, 
and  Duncan  would  have  passed  unharmed  beyond  the  castle 
walls.  The  pipe  was  the  invariable  accompaniment  of  all  councils 
and  treaties  among  Eastern  tribes,  and  it  was  the  emblem  of  peace. 
Each  village  had  its  calumet,  a  pipe  of  peace  made  of  sacred  pipe- 
stone,  and  whoever  travelled  with  it,  passed,  even  among  the 
enemy,  with  impunity.  Envoys  coming  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  town  would  utter  a  cry  and  seat  themselves  on  the  ground. 
"  The  great  chief,"  says  George  Bancroft,"  bearing  the  peace  pipe 
of  his  tribe,  with  its  mouth  pointing  to  the  skies,  goes  forth  to 
meet  them,  accompanied  by  a  long  procession  of  his  clansmen, 
chanting  the  hymn  of  peace.  The  strangers  rise  to  receive  them, 
singing  also  a  song,  to  put  away  all  wars  and  to  bury  all  revenge. 
As  they  meet,  each  party  smokes  the  pipe  of  the  other,  and  peace 
is  ratified.  The  strangers  are  then  conducted  to  the  village  ;  the 
herald  goes  out  into  the  street  that  divides  the  wigwams,  and 
makes  repeated  proclamation  that  the  guests  are  friends  ;  and  the 
glory  of  the  tribe  is  advanced  by  the  profusion  of  bear's  meat, 
and  flesh  of  dogs,  and  hominy,  which  give  magnificence  to  the 

1  Mrs.  Ertninnie  A.  Smith,  <l  Myths  of  the  Iroquois,"  Second  Ann.  Rcpt. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  72. 


366  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

banquets  in  honour  of  the  embassy . "  '  Thus  would  a  war  terminate. 
In  beginning  it  among  Eastern  tribes,  various  ceremonies  preceded 
the  departure  of  the  warriors,  especially  the  war  dance  or  scalp 
dance  and  accompanying  songs,  expressing  contempt  for  death 
and  certainty  of  victory.  Beckwourth  remarks:  "When  war  is 
declared  on  any  tribe,  it  is  done  by  the  council.2  If  any  party 
goes  out  without  authority  of  the  council,  they  are  all  severely 
whipped  ;  and  their  whipping  is  no  light  matter,  as  I  can  personally 
testify.  It  makes  no  difference  how  high  the  offender  ranks,  or 
how  great  his  popularity  with  the  nation — there  is  no  favour 
shown  ;  the  man  who  disobeys  orders  is  bound  to  be  lashed,  and 
if  he  resists  or  resents  the  punishment,  he  suffers  death."  3  Faces 
were  variously  decorated  for  the  warpath  ;  and  sometimes  when  a 
tribe  is  full  of  anger  and  resentment,  but  not  engaged  in  actual 
war,  they  will  paint  themselves  strangely.  Once  I  was  among 
the  Shevwits  of  Arizona  (1875)  when  they  were  nursing  their 
wrath  against  the  Mormons,  and  the  faces  of  the  men  were  painted 
in  a  way  that  perhaps  seemed  terrible  to  them,  but  which  was 
laughable  to  me.  Some  had  the  face  divided  into  three  or  four 
sections  by  different  colours,  for  example  :  forehead  white  ;  left 
side  of  face,  black  ;  right  side,  red  ;  with  lines  of  each  colour  over 
the  others.  Ordinarily  the  number  of  wounds  received  in  battle 
is  recorded  by  streaks  of  vermilion. 

Before  the  acquisition  of  firearms  and  the  horse,  and  the 
crowding  back  of  tribe  against  tribe  by  the  whites,  wars  were  in 
some  parts  rather  infrequent.  Night  attacks  were  never  made. 
Captives  were  often  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet,  and  if  they 
did  it  bravely  they  were  adopted  into  the  tribe.  Frequently  a 
captive  was  given  his  life  without  this  ordeal  if  he  would  join  the 
tribe  of  the  captors  and  fill  the  place  of  some  slain  warrior. 
Cooper  utilises  this  custom  where  Deerslayer  is  offered  his  liberty 
if  he  will  take  the  wife  and  family  of  one  he  has  killed  and  be 
come  a  member  of  the  tribe.  Such  adoption  always  rested,  how 
ever,  on  the  consent  of  the  kindred  of  the  deceased.  The  war- 
gods  were  propitiated  by  acts  of  cruelty,  and  by  human  sacrifices 
from  among  the  prisoners.  It  is  related  by  Bancroft 4  that  on  one 

1  History  of  the  United  States. 

'2  Important  announcements  are  made  by  appointed  criers. 

3  Life  and  Adventures  of  James  P.  Beckwourth^  p.  228. 

4  History  of  the  United  States. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


A   COSTUME    OF   A    HAMATSA    IN   THE   KWAKTUTL   CANNIBALISTIC   CEREMONY, 
WHERE   SLAVES    AND    CORPSES    WERE   FORMERLY    DEVOURED 

The  head  and  neck  rings  were  from  his  mother's  tribe,  the  Tongass  (Tlinkit) 
367 


368 


The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


occasion  the  Iroquois  sacrificed  an  Algonquin  woman,  exclaim 
ing,  "  Areskoni,  to  thee  we  burn  this  victim;  feast  on  her  flesh 
and  grant  us  new  victories."  Her  flesh  was  afterwards  eaten  as 
a  religious  rite.  Cannibalism  of  this  kind  prevailed  in  many 
tribes  ;  always,  ostensibly,  a  religious  ceremony,  not  a  means  of 
satisfying  hunger.  The  victims  were  often  richly  feasted  and 
generously  treated  for  some  time  before  being  executed.  Payne 
holds  that  the  Aztec  custom  of  consuming  captives  at  religious 
feasts  was  in  reality  a  means  of  procuring  animal  food  resulting 
from  the  limited  meat  supply,  and  that  perpetual  war  was  waged 
mainly  to  obtain  prisoners  for  this  purpose.1  Prescott  says  :  "  In 
deed  the  great  object  of  war,  with  the  Aztecs,  was  quite  as  much  to 
gather  victims  for  their  sacrifices  as  to  extend  their  empire."  2 

One  of  the  great  ceremonials  of  the  Aztecs  was  the  obtaining 
of  the  "new-fire,"  admirably  described  by  Prescott,  according  to 
his  custom.  "  On  the  evening  of  the  last  day,  a  procession  of  the 
priests,  assuming  the  dress  and  ornaments  of  their  gods,  moved 
from  the  capital  towards  a  lofty  mountain,  about  two  leagues  dis 
tant.  They  carried 
with  them  a  noble  vic 
tim,  the  flower  of  their 
captives,  and  an  ap 
paratus  for  kindling 
the  new-fire,  the  suc 
cess  of  which  was  an 
augury  of  the  renewal 
of  the  cycle.  On 
reaching  the  summit 
of  the  mountain,  the 
procession  paused  till 
midnight  ;  when  as 
the  constellation  of  the 
Pleiades  approached 
the  zenith,  the  new-fire 
was  kindled  by  the  friction  of  the  sticks  placed  on  the  wounded 
breast  of  the  victim.  The  flame  was  soon  communicated  to  a 
funeral  pile,  on  which  the  body  of  the  slaughtered  captive  was 
thrown.  As  the  light  streamed  up  towards  heaven,  shouts  of 

1  Payne's  History  of  the  New  World,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  495,  499,  an(l  SOL 

2  Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  81. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

MEXICAN   OPERATING   THE   PALM-DRILL    FOR    FIRE 

Fac-simile  outline  of  an  original  Mexican  painting  presented 

to  the  University  of  Oxford  by  Archbishop  Sand 


i 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

ZU5JI    WOMAN    CARRYING   WATER 

Shows  also  style  of  moccasin  and  leg  wrapping  worn  by  Puebloan  and  Navajo  women 

369 


370  The  North-  Americans  of  Yesterday 

joy  and  triumph  burst  forth  from  the  countless  multitudes  who 
covered  the  hills,  the  terraces  of  the  temples,  and  the  house-tops, 
with  eyes  bent  anxiously  on  the  mount  of  sacrifice.  Couriers,  with 
torches  lighted  at  the  blazing  beacon,  rapidly  bore  them  over  every 
part  of  the  country  ;  and  the  cheering  element  was  seen  brighten 
ing  on  altar  and  hearth-stone,  for  the  circuit  of  many  a  league, 
long  before  the  sun,  rising  on  his  accustomed  track,  gave  assur 
ance  that  a  new  cycle  had  commenced  its  march  and  that  the  laws 
of  nature  were  not  to  be  reversed  for  the  Aztecs."  1 

New-fire  was  also  obtained  by  friction,  with  the  Aztecs,  once 
each  year,  and  once  each  four  years,  as  well  as  at  the  fifty-two 
year  cycle.  In  Arkansas  it  was  produced  every  year.  On  a  cer 
tain  day,  '  '  as  the  sun  began  to  decline  the  fires  were  extinguished 
in  every  hut,  and  universal  silence  reigned."  2  A  priest  next 
produced  fire  by  friction.  "  It  was  then  brought  out  of  the 
temple  in  an  earthen  dish  and  placed  upon  an  altar  that  had  been 
previously  prepared  in  the  square.  Its  appearance  brought  joy  to 
the  hearts  of  the  people  as  it  was  supposed  to  atone  for  all  past 
crimes  except  murder.  A  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed  except 
for  this  one  crime,  and  all  malefactors  might  now  return  to  their 
villages  in  safety."  The  Mokis  still  produce  the  new-fire  each 
November.4 

Sacrifices  to  the  gods  were  made  by  the  Mayas  at  the  sacred 
cenote  of  Chichen  Itza,  and  similar  places.6  This  sacred  well  was 
one  of  the  openings  to  the  subterranean  waters  of  Yucatan,  and 
was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  diameter  and  sixty-five 
feet  deep  from  the  brink  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  with  perpen 
dicular  sides.  Pilgrims  came  here  to  make  offerings  and  Landa 
states  that  in  time  of  drought  they  would  cast  live  men  into  it  as  a 
tribute  to  the  gods,  believing  that  though  the}7  disappeared  they 
would  not  die.  Valuable  property  was  also  thrown  in  and  still 
lies  with  the  bones  at  the  bottom.  Charnay  tried  to  work  some 
automatic  sounding  machines  there,  but  he  failed  to  obtain  satis 
factory  results.  Among  the  Aztecs  a  person  to  be  sacrificed  was 

1  Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  126  ;  see  also  pp.  251,  252  of  this  book. 

-  Lucien  Carr,  Smithsonian  Report,  1891,  p.  543  ;  see  also  Payne's  His 
tory  of  the  New  World,  page  330. 


4  See  Fewkes,   "The  New-Fire  Ceremony  at  Walpi,"     American  An 
thropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  ii.,  No.  i. 

5  For  details  of  cenote,  etc.,  see  Desire  Charnay's  Ancient  Cities. 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  371 

extended  full  length  over  a  convex  stone,  and  the  priest  with  a 
long  obsidian  knife  made  a  gash  in  the  breast  through  which  he 
extracted  the  living  heart  and  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  the  idol.  Parts 
of  the  victim  were  afterward  served  at  a  grand  ceremonial  banquet. 
"Forty  days  previous  to  the  festival  of  Quetzalcohuatl,"  says 
Bandelier,  ' '  a  slave  was  selected,  who  must  be  in  perfect  health 
and  of  faultless  body.  He  was  dressed  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
idol,  and,  after  having  been  carefully  bathed,  and  kept  in  '  honour 
able  confinement,'  as  an  object  of  worship  for  that  length  of  time, 
he  was  sacrificed  at  midnight.  The  heart  was  tendered  to  the 
moon,  and  afterwards  thrown  at  the  idol,  and  the  body  cut  up, 
cooked  and  publicly  devoured."  1  In  times  of  drought  children 
from  six  to  ten  years  old  were  offered  up ;  they  were  not 
eaten,  but  buried  before  the  idol.  The  priests  who  officiated  were 
medicine-men,  or  shamans.  Bvery  tribe  on  the  continent  had 
shamans.  These  individuals  held  a  peculiar  power,  and  among 
tribes  known  to  us  now  they  still  exercise  it.  Even  among  the 
Christian  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico,  the  authority  of  the  shaman 
has  not  altogether  waned  and  ancient  rites  are  said  to  be  still 
enacted  in  secret.  For  some  of  these  it  is  believed  rattlesnakes 
have  been  carefully  guarded  for  years.  "Among  Indians," 
Mooney  states,2  "the  professions  of  medicine  and  religion  are  in 
separable.  The  doctor  is  always  a  priest  and  the  priest  is  always 
a  doctor.  Hence  to  the  whites  in  the  Indian  country  the  Indian 
priest-doctor  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  '  medicine-man '  and 
anything  sacred,  mysterious,  or  of  wonderful  power  or  efficacy  in 
Indian  life  or  belief  is  designated  as  '  medicine, '  this  term  being 
the  nearest  equivalent  of  the  aboriginal  expression  in  various 
languages.  To  make  '  medicine  '  is  to  perform  some  sacred  cere 
mony,  from  the  curing  of  a  sick  child  to  the  consecration  of  the 
Sun-dance  lodge."  An  Iroqtiois  student  states,3  that,  "among 
the  Indians,  the  knowledge  of  the  medicine-man  and  the  more  ex 
pert  sorceress  is  little  above  that  of  the  body  of  the  tribe.  Their 
success  depends  entirely  on  their  own  belief  in  being  supernattir- 
ally  gifted  and  on  the  faith  and  fear  of  their  followers.  I  do  not 

1  Arches ologi cat  Tour,  p.  204. 

2  James  Mooney,  "The Ghost-Dance  Religion,"  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  980. 

3  Mrs.  Brminnie  Smith,  "  Myths  of  the  Iroquois,"  Second  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth.,  p.  68. 


372 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


believe  that  the  Iroquois  lives  to-day  who  is  not  a  believer  in  sor 
cery,  or  who  would  not  in  the  night  time  quail  at  seeing  a  bright 
light  the  nature  of  which  he  did  not  understand." 

The  functions  and  powers  of  the   shamans  or  medicine-men 
have  never  been  completely  understood,  but  over  the  sick  they 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu.  Frame  Back 

UTE  CRADLE,  FRAME   OF    RODS   COVERED    WITH    BUCKSKIN 
Carried  on  the  back.     In  principle  the  majority  of  Amerind  cradles  are  similar 

carried  on  various  incantations  and  administered  decoctions  of 
native  vegetable  and  animal  substances.  Powell  defines  a  shaman 
as  "a  person  who  has  the  power  to  control  ghosts  through  magic. ' ' 
They  mortified  their  own  flesh  and  the  priests  of  Mexico  would 
pierce  their  tongues  and  draw  through  the  wound  thus  formed  a 
long  knotted  cord,  or  twigs  fastened  together,  or  a  cord  set  with 
some  animal's  claws  or  teeth.  Speaking  of  Mexico,  Prescott  says  : 1 

1  Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  121. 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  373 

"In  no  country,  not  even  in  ancient  Egypt,  were  the  dreams  of 
the  astrologer  more  implicitly  deferred  to.  On  the  birth  of  a  child 
he  was  instantly  summoned.  The  time  of  the  event  was  accur 
ately  ascertained,  and  the  family  hung  in  trembling  suspense  as 
the  minister  of  Heaven  cast  the  horoscope  of  the  infant  and 
unrolled  the  dark  volume  of  destiny.  The  influence  of  the  priest 
was  confessed  by  the  Mexican  in  the  first  breath  which  he  inhaled." 
Other  tribes  were  not  behind.  In  some  the  shamans  were  her 
editary,  but  it  would  seem  that  their  selection  and  appointment 
were  due  to  various  regulations  existing  in  the  secret  orders  and 
also  to  a  reputation  for  the  possession  of  occult  power.  Some 
writers  hold  that  the  shamans  are  self  appointed,  but  this  does  not 
seem  to  correspond  with  the  intricacies  of  the  Amerindian  social 
organisation.  Powell  adopts  the  Algonquin  name  for  them,  jossa- 
keeds,  and  describes  them  as  the  head  men  of  the  fraternities. 
Whatever  he  may  do  to  obtain  his  supposed  magical  powers,  it 
would  appear  reasonable  to  believe  that  so  prominent  a  functionary 
as  this  shaman,  or  jossakeed,  would  require  in  the  beginning  to  be 
a  man  of  some  distinction,  or  special  initiation.  In  making  such 
decoctions  as  he  used  the  shaman  boiled  various  plants  together 
with  a  stone  arrow-head,  or  similar  article.  Out  of  twenty  plants 
used  by  the  Cherokees,  only  seven  are  noted  in  the  United  States 
Dispensatory.  "Five  plants  or  25  per  cent.,"  says  Mooney, 
"  are  correctly  used;  12  or  60  per  cent,  are  presumably  either 
worthless  or  incorrectly  used,  and  three  plants  or  15  per  cent, 
are  so  used  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  they  are  of 
any  benefit  or  not.  Granting  that  two  of  these  three  produce 
good  results  as  used  by  the  Indians,  we  should  have  35  per 
cent.,  or  about  one  third  of  the  whole,  as  the  proportion  actually 
possessing  medical  virtues,  while  the  remaining  two  thirds  are 
inert,  if  not  positively  injurious."  "  For  a  disease  caused  by  the 
rabbit  the  antidote  must  be  a  plant  called  'rabbit's  food,'  'rab 
bit's  ear,'  or  'rabbit's  tail'  ;  for  snake  dreams,  the  plant  used 
is  '  snake's  tooth,'  "  and  so  on,  "  an  empiric  development  of  the 
fetich  idea."1  No  sanitary  precautions  were  taken  during  the 
treatment  except  fasting.  When  the  patient  eats,  certain  kinds 
of  food  are  forbidden,  but  on  the  ground  of  some  fancied  connec 
tion  between  the  disease  and  the  food.  If  squirrels  are  supposed 

1  James  Mooney,  "Sacred  Formulas  of  the  Cherokees,"  Seventh  Ann. 
Rcpt.  Bu.  Eth. ,  p.  328. 


374  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


to  be  at  the  root  of  the  trouble,  the  patient  is  prohibited  from 
eating  squirrel  meat.1 

The  sweat  bath  was,  and  is,  the  great  cure-all  among  the 
Amerinds,  except  the  Central  and  Eastern  Eskimo.  It  was  also  a 
means  of  religious  purification.  Sometimes  the  sweat  house  was 
a  large  structure,  but  usually  it  was  only  large  enough  to  hold  one 
or  two  persons  in  a  squatting  posture,  and  was  constructed  of  poles 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 
ESKIMO   WOMAN    OF   POINT   BARROW 

CARRYING  CHILD 
Photograph  by  Capt.  Healy,  U.  S.  R.  M. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 
APACHE    WOMAN    CARRYING 

CHILD 

Shows  also  moccasins  and  leg  wrappings 
similar  to  the  Puebloan  and  Navajo 


covered  with  skins,  blankets,  or  earth.  The  patient  entered  and 
those  outside  heated  stones  and  passed  them  in  to  him  by  means 
of  sticks.  Water  or  some  decoction  was  then  poured  over  the 

1  "  Our  materia  medica  owes  tobacco,  gum  copal,  liquid  amber,  sarsapa- 
rilla,  resin  of  tecamaca,  jalap,  and  huaca  to  the  Aztecs." — L.  Biart.  The 
Aztecs,  p.  285. 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  375 

stones  and  the  opening  closed.  Profuse  perspiration  was  the  re 
sult.  At  the  proper  time,  if  a  stream  were  near,  the  patient  would 
run  out  and  plunge  in  ;  otherwise  cold  water  was  poured  over  him. 
This  was  the  chief  remedy  for  smallpox,  which  has  made  such 
ravages  in  all  tribes,  but  of  course  it  was  ineffective.  The  sweat 
lodge  and  the  sweat  bath  connected  with  it  must  not  be  con 
founded,  as  is  often  the  case,  with  the  estufa,  (or  kiva).  The  latter 
has  no  connection  with  the  sweat  bath,  but  is  an  entirely  different 
thing,  the  confusion  arising  from  the  Spanish  term,  which  means 
a  hothouse,  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  kivas  are  kept  stiflingly 
close  and  hot  in  winter. 

Most  Amerinds  believe  that  all  living  things,  even  trees,  once 
had  human  shape,  and  "  have  been  transformed,  for  punishment  or 
otherwise,  into  their  present  condition."  They  had  no  understand 
ing  of  a  single  ' '  Great  Spirit ' '  till  the  Europeans,  often  uncon 
sciously,  informed  them  of  their  own  belief. 

The  Iroquois  in  many  ways  were  the  finest  Amerinds  of  all. 
Brinton  says,  "  unsurpassed  by  any  other  on  the  continent  [phys 
ically],  and  I  may  even  say  by  any  other  people  in  the  world."  l 
"  In  legislation,  in  eloquence,  in  fortitude  and  in  military  sagac 
ity  they  had  no  equals,"  says  Morgan.'2  He  also  maintains  that 
they  represented  ' '  the  highest  development  the  Indian  ever  reached 
in  the  hunter  state."  "  Crimes  and  offences  were  so  unfrequent 
under  their  social  system  that  the  Iroquois  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
have  had  a  criminal  code."  Theft  was  barely  known,  and  "on 
all  occasions,  and  at  whatever  price,  the  Iroquois  spoke  the  truth 
without  fear  and  without  hesitation. ' '  3  The  Iroquois,  Algonquins, 
and  other  stocks  carried  on  a  considerable  commerce  with  far- 
distant  points.  "  The  red  pipe-stone  was  brought  to  the  Atlantic 
coast  from  the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  and  even  the  black  slate  highly 
ornamented  pipes  of  the  Haidah  on  Vancouver  Island  have  been 
exhumed  from  graves  of  Lenape  Indians."  4  The  wide  extent  of 
Amerindian  commercial  traffic  has  hardly  been  appreciated. 

The  religion  of  most  of  the  Amerinds  was  zootheism  —  that  is, 
their  gods  were  deified  men  and  animals.  The  heavenly  bodies, 
personified  as  men  and  animals,  also  formed  a  part  of  their  galaxy. 

1  D.  G.  Brinton,  The  American  Race,  p.  82. 

2  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  55. 
3 Ibid.,  pp.  33°-333. 

4  Brinton,  The  American  Race,  p.  77. 


76 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Their  worship  of  these  various  deities,  who  were  believed  to  con 
trol  each  his  division  of  human  affairs  and  earthly  phenomena, 
was  through  numerous  ceremonials,  many  of  them  embodying 
their  form  of  dancing,  and  called  by  the  whites  "  dances,"  though 
this  term  fails  properly  to  describe  them.  Often  there  is  very 

little  dancing,  and  even 
that  has  a  minor  part. 
The  ceremonials  take 
place  at  all  times  and 
seasons,  many  being  as 
absolutely  fixed  to  a  cer 
tain  date  as  our  own 
holidays  or  church  cele 
brations.  The  Kastern 
tribes  had  ceremonials 
on  tapping  the  maple 
trees,  and  others  for  the 
close  of  the  maple-sugar 
season.  There  were  also 
the  Corn-Planting  Festi 
val,  the  Strawberry  Fes 
tival,  the  Bean  Festival, 
and  the  famous  Green 
Corn  Dance  of  the  Iro- 
quois,  followed  by  the  Harvest  Dance.  Some  ceremonials  occur  in 
their  perfection  only  at  specified  intervals,  as  the  Snake  Dance  of 
the  Mokis,  which,  while  performed  annually  at  some  one  of  the 
towns,  is  seen  in  its  full  glory  only  once  every  two  }7ears  at 
the  village  of  Walpi.  This  now  famous  ceremonial,  in  which  a 
hundred  or  more  rattlesnakes  are  used  alive,  covers  altogether  a 
period  of  nine  days,  including  the  search  for  the  snakes,  as  well  as 
rites  performed  in  the  kiva.  It  is  only  on  the  last  two  days  that 
there  are  public  ceremonies.  Spectators  who  are  known  or  have 
a  proper  introduction  are  sometimes  allowed  to  visit  a  kiva  when 
it  is  reserved  by  the  order  owning  or  controlling  it  ;  at  other  times 
a  visitor  is  generally  freely  admitted.  During  my  stay  in  the 
Moki  country  I  never  was  barred  from  any  place  that  I  desired  to 
enter  ;  though  it  may  have  happened  that  I  never  tried  to  enter  at 
a  time  when  outsiders  were  forbidden.  The  snakes  are  brought 
out  of  the  kiva  by  one  set  of  priests,  or  shamans,  and  dropped  on 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth.  Photograph  (reversed) 

MOKI    "SNAKE    DANCE"    AT   WALPI 

Snake  priests  in  action 


Sixth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  V. 
Drawings  by  the  Central  Eskimo.     See  page  59. 


ff 


t 


Fourth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  XXXVIII. 

Page  of  the  Dakota  Winter-Counts,  also 
called  by  them  "  Counts  Back."  See 
page  60. 


Fourth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  LXIII. 

Page  from  Red  Cloud's  Census,  Dakota. 
See  page  60. 


IIP 


Fourth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  IV. 

Ojibwa  Mnemonic  Record  of  a  Mide  Song. 
See  page  58. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


AMERINDIAN    PICTURE-WRITING 

377 


378 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


the  ground  to  be  picked  up  by  another  set  with  much  ceremony. 
At  the  end  all  the  snakes  are  carried  to  the  valley  and  liberated  to 
return  through  their  holes  to  the  underworld,  there  to  communi 
cate  the  desires  of  the  people  to  the  gods.  The  towns  of  the  Mokis 
on  the  East  Mesa  are  now  frequently  visited  by  whites,  but 
Oraibi  and  the  others  are  not  so  often  approached.  When  I  went 
to  Oraibi,  in  1885,  we  were  followed  about  by  a  band  of  curious 
small  boys,  and  the  women  peered  at  us  from  the  roof  hatchways, 
quickly  ducking  out  of  sight  if  one  of  us  happened  to  look  their 
way.  The  men  declined  to  talk  except  in  monosyllables,  and  I 
am  free  to  confess  that  it  was  a  relief  to  finally  mount  and  ride 
away.  Oraibi  has  never  had  a  reputation  for  hospitality.  From 

there  we  went 
to  Shimopavi, 
where  our  re 
ception  was 
exactly  the  re 
verse  of  what 
it  had  been  at 
Oraibi,  and  I 
shall  always  re 
member  with 
pleasure  the 
frank,  genial, 
smiling  men 
who  received  us 
in  one  of  the 
chief  kivas,  and 
the  alacrity 
with  which  a 
clean  repast  of 
watermelon 
and  piki  was 

brought  and  placed  before  us.  This  only  shows  what  a  difference 
in  manners  may  exist  in  the  divisions  of  one  tribe,  and  how  easy 
it  would  be  to  denounce  all  the  Mokis  as  being  surly  and  ugly,  if 
one  saw  only  the  Oraibi  branch. 

A  simple  occurrence  means  to  the  superstitious  mind  of  the 
Amerind  a  great  deal.  In  illustration  of  this  I  may  mention  that 
two  men  I  knew  were  one  day  at  one  of  the  Moki  towns  and 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth.  Photograph  (reversed) 

BEGINNING   OF   THE   MOKI    "  SNAKE   DANCE"    AT   WALPI 

Antelope  priests  lined  up 
This  scene  precedes  the  one  on  page  376 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  379 

carelessly  entered  a  kiva  where  the  preparing  and  blessing  of  certain 
sacred  water  were  in  progress.  When  they  had  departed,  a  fright 
ened  rock-wren  fluttered  in.  This  was  accepted  as  an  evil  omen. 
The  bird  was  immediately  killed  and  some  of  its  blood  sprinkled 
over  the  floor  of  the  kiva.  Then  it  was  taken  to  the  first  house 
the  whites  had  entered  when  they  arrived  at  the  town,  and  more 
blood  sprinkled  wherever  they  had  stood.  After  this  the  bird's 
body  was  carefully  laid  outside,  near  the  door. 

Thus  the  struggles  of  a  dazed  bird  are  considered  by  these 
people  a  portentous  circumstance. 

The  dancing  of  the  Amerinds  is  everywhere  much  alike,  and 
it  is  generally  performed  in  a  circle.  It  has  been  described  as  a 
heel  dance,  and  with  some  tribes  is  apparently  that  because  they 
seem  to  strike  the  ground  only  with  the  heel,  but  it  is  usually  a  toe- 
and-heel  step,  the  toe  first  touching  and  then  the  heel  being  brought 
down  with  more  or  less  force.  When  rapidly  done  the  separate 
touching  of  the  toe  is  hardly  noticeable.  The  movement  of  the 
circle  is  commonly  from  left  to  right,  and  during  this  progress  va 
rious  contortions  are  gone  through  with,  more  or  less  violently  ac 
cording  to  the  intensity  of  the  occasion.  In  the  remarkable  Okeepa 
ceremony  of  the  Sioux  fearful  tortures  were  submitted  to,  and 
sometimes  a  bison  skull  was  dragged  around  by  means  of  ropes 
attached  to  skewers  thrust  through  the  bodies  and  limbs  of  the 
performers.  They  were  also  pulled  aloft  in  the  dancing-lodge 
by  these  skewers,  and  the  pain  was  often  so  intense  that  the 
devotee  would  faint.  (See  page  382.)  When  Catlin  first  described 
this  ceremonial  and  its  ordeals  it  was  received  with  doubt,  but  it 
has  since  been  seen  by  others  and  full}'  authenticated.  It  is,  of 
course,  not  possible  to  more  than  touch  on  the  customs  and  cere 
monies  of  the  Amerinds  in  this  short  chapter.  A  large  volume 
would  be  required  to  exhibit  even  a  quarter  part  of  the  details. 

The  ceremonials '  of  the  Pueblos  are  marked  by  elaborately 
costumed  katcinas,2  but  perhaps  not  more  so  than  those  of  other 
tribes.  Those  of  the  North-west  coast  are  full  of  strange  costumes 

1  These  ceremonials  often  introduce  historical  matters.     I  was  surprised 
once  to  hear  the  song  change  to  one  of  our  Sunday-school  hymns.     This 
portion  of  the  ceremony  was  describing  the  establishment  of  a  Presbyterian 
mission  at  Ream's  Canyon  years  before. 

2  See  J.  Walter  Fewkes,  Journal  of  American  Ethnology,  for  a  descrip 
tion  of  some  of  the  Moki  ceremonials  and  other  papers  by  the  same  author. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


HORNED    RATTLESNAKE,  CROTALUS   CERASTES 


Commonly  called  "Sidewinder"  because  of  its  sidling  motion.  Inhabits  desert  plains  and 
valleys  of  Southern  Arizona,  California,  and  Nevada,  and  south-western  Utah.  One  killed 
by  the  author  in  1875  was  about  three  ft.  long.  The  rattlesnake  was  identified  with 
religious  ceremonials  of  most  of  the  tribes  from  Ohio  to  Central  America 

380 


Customs  and  Ceremonies  381 

also,  and  the  plains  tribes  executed  their  wild  scalp  dance,  bear 
dance,  buffalo  dance,  etc.,  in  costumes  that  were  as  singular  as 
the  dance  itself.  In  the  ceremony  of  the  Mokis  called  Soyaita 
or  Somaikoli,  I  counted  sixteen  different  katcinas  with  extraordi 
nary  costumes  weighing  them  down,  except  one  who  wore  nothing 
but  a  round  bullet-like  mask  and  a  breech-cloth.  The  others  were 
so  loaded  that  it  was  nearly  impossible  to  recognise  in  them  human 
beings.  The  preparations  for  a  ceremonial  occupy  a  week  or  two 
beforehand.  One  evening,  some  time  before  the  public  perform 
ance  of  the  Somaikoli,  as  I  was  walking  from  one  village  to  the 
other  on  the  East  Mesa,  I  was  about  half  way  when  I  suddenly 
became  aware  of  a  hideous  yelling  ahead  of  me,  and  discovered 
the  flaring  of  torches  in  the  darkness.  There  being  no  rock,  tree, 
or  shrub  near,  I  was  fully  illumined  by  the  glare  as  the  torches 
approached.  Then  I  saw  six  stalwart  fellows,  entirely  nude,  ex 
cept  for  the  breech-cloth,  though  it  was  a  chilly  night  in  Novem 
ber.  I  paused  to  await  results,  as  I  perceived  they  meant  to  come 
up  with  me.  I  could  not  understand  their  object.  They  were 
marching  in  single  file.  When  they  saw  that  I  was  not  a 
native,  but  the  solitary  white  visitor  to  the  mesa  who  lived  at 
Hano,  they  grinned  and  passed  on  without  a  word.  What  they 
would  have  done  with  one  of  their  people  I  do  not  know,  but  I 
heard  afterwards  that  they  captured  anyone  they  found  out  and 
kept  them  in  one  of  the  kivas  till  the  day  of  the  public  ceremony. 
At  any  rate,  I  found  that  everybody  took  care  to  be  indoors  on  this 
night  between  certain  hours.  The  mysteries  of  the  different  secret 
orders  are  not  known  to  outsiders,  not  even  if  members  of  the 
tribe.1 

Photographs  and  paintings  were  considered  "bad-medicine" 
by  most  tribes,  and  I  had  no  success  whatever  in  persuading  the 
Mokis  to  pose  for  me  when  I  was  there.  One  who  finally  con 
sented  ran  away  when  it  came  to  the  test.  I  was  permitted  to  use 
my  snap-camera  and  to  sketch  buildings  freely,  but  when  it  came  to 
painting  persons  they  rebelled.  They  believed  that  the  possessor 
of  a  likeness  held  power  over  the  person  represented. 

Murder  in  most  tribes  was  settled  by  property  atonement,  or  by 
the  assumption  by  the  guilty  one  of  the  victim's  duties,  and  when 

1  In  some  of  the  pueblos  there  is  a  constant  inter-killing  going  on  for  sup 
posed  evil  practices  of  witchcraft  (Bandelier  Report,  part  i.,  p.  35),  but 
whether  this  has  any  connection  with  the  secret  orders,  I  do  not  know. 


jajjj 

illll 


382 


Customs  and  Ceremonies 


383 


once  settled  the  matter  could  never  again  be  reopened.  No  con 
troversy  was  ever  permitted,  and  to  terminate  it  there  were  three 
methods  :  i.  When  controversy  arises  in  relation 
to  ownership,  the  property  is  usually  destroyed  by 
the  clan  or  by  the  tribal  authorities.  This  is  one 
reason  why  property  is  found  buried  with  Amer 
inds.  By  thus  disposing  of  it  all  controversy  is 
avoided.  Or  the  property  may  be  completely  aban 
doned  by  all  concerned,  as  in  the  case  mentioned 
by  Powell,  where  a  war  party  of  Sioux  surprised 
and  killed  a  squad  of  sleeping  soldiers  at  the  first 
volley.  "  Their  arms,  blankets,  and  other  property 
were  untouched  because  the  attacking  party  being 
large,  it  could  not  be  decided  by  whose  bullets  the 
soldiers  were  slain."  2.  If  two  persons  come  to 
blows,  it  is,  unless  serious  injury  be  done,  con 
sidered  a  final  settlement.  Appeal  to  authority  is 
thereby  forever  barred  in  that  matter.  3.  Estab 
lishment  of  a  day  or  festival  once  a  month,  usually 
once  a  year,  beyond  which  crimes  do  not  pass. 
Marriage  is  by  what  is  called  legal  appointment. 
In  this  way  controversy  over  the  women  of  a  tribe 
is  largely  avoided,  for  little  is  left  to  personal  choice. 
But  kinship  groups  allowed  to  intermarry  do  not 
remain  stationary  in  numbers,  hence,  one  set  of 
men  may  have  many  wives  to  choose  from,  another 
few,  which,  says  Powell,  leads  to  modification  of 
the  principle  and  three  additional  forms  of  marriage 
are  the  result,  by  elopement,  by  capture,  and  by 
duel.  That  is,  if  a  pair  elope  and  can  evade  their 
pursuers  till  the  day  limiting  controversy  has  passed, 
they  are  safe  from  molestation.  We  once  met  an 
interesting  example  of  this  class  in  theUinta  Valley, 
u.  s.  BU.  Eth.  Utah,  and  with  our  boats  put  the  runaway  s  across 
THE  SACRED  POLE  Green  River,  thus  obliterating  their  trail,  though  at 
OF  THE  OMAHA  the  time  we  fa£  not  SQ  well  understand  the  situ- 

Qf  men  wh()  haye  but  &  Hmited  dass 

°  ^        A 

to  choose  wives  from  sometimes  combine  to  capture 
for  one  of  their  number  a  wife  from  some  other  group  within  their 
own  tribe.  A  fight  is  often  the  result,  but  without  weapons.  A 


Now  in  the  Peabody    ^ 
Museum 


gfi 

o  "  "--o  - 


o^3       o  « 
«  6  3  ?•£> 


384 


Customs  and  Ceremonies 


385 


second  battle  for  the  same  woman  at  that  time  is  not  permitted. 1  Or 
one  man,  if  he  feel  strong  enough,  may  deprive  some  other  fellow 
in  his  own  tribe  of  his  wife.  In  southern  Utah,  Tom  came  to  our 
camp  one  night  weeping  bitterly,  and  when  I  could  get  at  his 
statement  it  was  to  the 
effect  that  someone 
had  deprived  him  of 
his  wife.  Our  men 
were  indignant  and 
wished  t  o  proceed 
forthwith  to  the  Amer 
ind  camp  and  compel 
the  thief  to  restore  the 
wife  to  Tom,  but  they 
finally  decided  to 
abandon  him  to  the 
established  customs 
of  his  people. 

Sometimes  a  woman 
is  assigned  to  a  man 
who  already  has  a 
wife,  while  some  other 
man  has  none,  because 
the  group  into  which 

he  is  permitted  to  marry  is  exhausted.  He  then  challenges  the 
man  who  is  entitled  to  more  than  one  and  endeavours  to  win 
the  woman  by  success  in  battle.  On  one  occasion  in  southern 
Nevada  a  white  man's  sympathies  were  so  aroused  by  one  of 
these  affairs,  in  which  the  girl  was  being  roughly  pulled  about, 
that  he  threw  off  his  coat  and,  taking  an  active  part  in  the 
struggles,  rescued  her.  Then  he  was  amazed  at  the  information 
that  the  girl  belonged  to  him  and  he  must  keep  her.  This 
he  declined  to  do  and  turned  her  over  again  to  their  tender 
mercies.  These  three  forms  of  marriage  become  roundabout 
methods  of  personal  choice.  When  the  supply  of  wives  is  nor 
mal  the  young  man  in  some  tribes  goes  out  into  the  woods  by 
a  certain  trail,  and  if  the  girl  of  his  choice  follows  him,  it 
is  considered  a  marriage,  and  is  celebrated  with  prescribed 

1  For  information  on  these  and  other  social  points  see  the  various  writings 
of  J.  W.  Powell. 

25 


GROUND  PLAN  OF  CRUCIFORM  TOMB,  OAXACA 


386  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

ceremonies.  Polygamy  was  practised  by  most  tribes.  Among 
the  Navajos,  who  buy  their  wives,  it  is  very  common,  but  there  a 
wife  can  depart  at  pleasure,  and  as  the  husband  acquires  no  right 
to  her  property,  she  takes  it  with  her. 

Totemism  is  an  important  custom  in  vogue  among  all  the  stocks 
of  the  continent,  and  it  was  probably  a  custom  the  world  over 
when  tribes  were  in  a  certain  stage.  The  word  totem  is  derived 
from  the  Ojibwa,  and  is  said  to  have  first  been  introduced  into 
literature  by  one  Long,  an  interpreter.  Totems  are  of  three  kinds  : 
clan  totems,  sex  totems,  and  individual  totems.  The  first  are  the 
most  important.1  Totemism  is  at  the  same  time  a  religious  and  a 
social  system.  The  totem  is  usually  an  animal,  as  a  frog,  bear, 
bat,  etc.  The  Amerind  believes  that  between  these  objects  and 
himself  there  is  a  particular  bond,  and  he  has  for  them  the 
most  profound  respect.  From  them  he  believes  himself  de 
scended.  Therefore  he  would  not  harm  an  animal  that  was 
his  totem.  The  Bear  clan  would  not  kill  a  bear,  the  Red  Maize 
clan  would  not  eat  red  maize,  and  so  on.  Totemism  existed 
among  the  Israelites,  and  the  objection  to  eating  pork  is  sup 
posed  by  some  to  rest  on  the  pig  having  been  one  of  their 
totems.  The  Amerind  also  generally  derived  his  name  from 
some  animal  or  object,  and  he  represented  this  as  his  individual 
totem  mark.  In  the  totem  poles  of  the  North  west  coast,  these 
various  representations  of  totems  were  combined  and  set  up  be 
fore  the  door  to  indicate  the  relationships  of  the  persons  who 
lived  there.'" 

Cleanliness  varies  among  the  tribes,  and  is  sometimes  in 
proportion  to  the  ease  or  difficulty  with  which  water  can  be  pro 
cured.  The  Mokis  who  live  in  an  arid  country  and  have  to  carry 
water  long  distances  seldom  waste  it  in  bathing  or  washing, 
though  I  did  once  see  an  old  Moki  fill  his  mouth  with  water  and 
blow  it  out  in  instalments  over  his  hands.  The  Omahas,  according 
to  Dorsey,  generally  bathe  twice  every  day  in  warm  weather. 
They  used  to  help  women  and  children  to  alight  from  horses,  and 
sometimes  carried  them  over  streams  on  their  backs.  Old  men 
and  women  were  never  abandoned  by  them.  Some  men  were  not 
wanting  in  gallantry.  Dorsey  tells  of  a  young  woman  who 

1  The  clan  totem  is  probably  an  expansion  of  the  individual  totem  by 
increase. 

2  See  pp.  162,  164,  241,  this  book,  for  illustrations  of  totem  poles. 


Fifth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  XV. 

A  Navajo  ll  Dry  "  Painting  made  with  sand  in  the 
Mountain  Chant  Ceremony.     See  page  61. 


Fourth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  LII. 

Page  of  an  Oglala  Roster — "  Big- 
Road"  and  band.     See  page  59. 


Third  Ann.  Report,  PI.  IV. 

Copy  of  Plates  65  and  66,  Vatican  Codex  B. 
Each  figure  is  a  tree  with  a  person 
clasping  the  trunk.  See  page  72. 

U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


See  Twelfth  Ann.  Kept.,  PI.  XVII. 

Drawing  restored  from  fragments  of  a  thin  copper 
plate,  in  repousse  work,  from  a  mound  of  the 
Etowah  group,  Georgia. 


AMERINDIAN   ART 

387 


388 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


wished  to  halt  at  a  spring.  Her  brother  was  with  her.  The 
ground  was  muddy  and  she  would  have  soiled  her  clothes 
had  she  knelt  to  drink,  but  another  man  rode  up  at  the 
moment,  and,  jumping  from  his  horse,  he  pulled  a  lot  of  grass, 
placing  it  on  the  wet  ground  so  that  she  could  drink  without 
soiling  her  dress. 

When  he  died  the  Amerind  was  disposed  of  in  a  number  of  dif 
ferent  ways.     There  were  burials  in  pits,  graves,  mounds,  cists, 

caves,  and  so  on  ;  there  was 
cremation  ;  there  was  em 
balming  ;  there  was  aerial 
sepulture  in  trees  or  scaf 
folds  ;  there  was  burial  be 
neath  water,  or  in  canoes 
that  were  turned  adrift.  The 
Navajos  leave  the  dead  in 
the  place  where  they  die, 
or  throw  them  into  a  cleft 
in  the  rocks  and  pile  stones 
upon  the  corpse.  In  Ten 
nessee  graves  are  found 
which  were  made  by  lining 
a  rectangular  excavation 
with  slabs  of  stone.  These 
are  ancient  and  resemble 
the  graves  of  the  reindeer 
period  in  France.  Yarrow  ' 
speaks  of  them  as  being 
almost  identical.  I  found 

graves  of  similar  description  in  southern  Utah  near  the  Arizona 
line,  but  in  the  two  or  three  that  I  opened  there  were  no  bones, 
only  on  the  bottom  a  shallow  layer  of  what  appeared  to  be  fine 
dark  earth  with  thin  slabs  upon  it ;  doubtless  the  slabs  once  forming 
the  top.1  Some  tribes  wrapped  their  dead  in  fine  furs  or  in  grasses 

1  Dr.  H.  C.  Yarrow,  "  Mortuary  Customs,"      First  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth. 

'The  head-stones  of  these  graves  were  this  shape,  T  /  and  a  portion 

in  some  cases  protruded  above  the  ground  when  I\  /was  there. 
The  ground  was  very  sandy.  The  stones  were  natural  \  /  slabs,  about 
\2  in.  thick.  *— •* 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

MOKI    EARTHEN    CANTEEN,    ARIZONA. 


Customs  and  'Ceremonies 


389 


and  matting  ;  l  others  buried  in  urns.  In  the  North-west  a  living 
slave  was  buried  with  the  deceased.  If  the  slave  were  not  dead  in 
three  days,  he  was  strangled  by  another  slave.  In  Mexico  the 
custom  of  burying  slaves  with  the  dead  was  common. 

1  Stansbury,  in  his  Report,  describes  graphically  a  "death  lodge"  he 
found,  but,  unfortunately,  space  is  lacking  to  reprint  it  here. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 
MODERN    LACED    SANDAL   OF    LEATHER   FROM    COL1MA,    MEXICO 


U.S.  Bu.  Eth. 


ESKIMO    PIPE    WITH    STONE   BOWL. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MYTHS,    TRADITIONS,    AND   LEGENDS 

PERSONS  who  are  obliged  to  rely  on  memory  find  that  mem 
ory  develops  with  use  and  becomes  more  reliable.  The 
Amerinds,  having  no  written  language,  if  we  except  the 
Nahuatl  and  Mayan  tribes,  had  no  way  of  preserving  their  tales, 
traditions,  and  legends  except  to  remember  them,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  everywhere  on  the  continent  memory  was  highly 
developed.  To  assist  in  recalling  them  they  had  their  picture- 
writing,  already  described.  The  method  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
remarkable  Walam  Olum,  or  Red  Score  of  the  Lenape,  where  a 
most  poetic  account  of  the  origin  of  things  is  recorded  by  means 
of  a  few  rude  pictures  made  by  lines  and  dots.1  There  has  been 
some  doubt  as  to  the  genuineness  of  this  score,  first  recorded  by 
Rafinesque,  but  Brinton,  who  was  a  scholar  of  fine  intellect  and 
calm  judgment  and  thoroughly  versed  in  all  the  intricacies  of  the 
situation,  accepted  it  as  a  genuine  Amerind  production  "which 
was  repeated  orally  to  someone  indifferently  conversant  with  the 
Delaware  language,  who  wrote  it  down  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 
In  its  present  form  it  can,  as  a  whole,  lay  no  claim  either  to  an 
tiquity,  or  to  purity  of  linguistic  form.  Yet,  as  an  authentic 
modern  version,  slightly  coloured  by  European  teachings,  of  the 
ancient  tribal  traditions,  it  is  well  worth  preservation.  .  .  . 
The  narrator  was  probably  one  of  the  native  chiefs  or  priests,  who 
had  spent  his  life  in  the  Ohio  and  Indiana  towns  of  the  Lenape, 
and  who,  though  with  some  knowledge  of  Christian  instruction, 
1  See  p.  46,  this  book. 
39° 


Monumental  Records  Pnotographed  by  M.  H.  Saville 

TEOCALLI  (TEMPLE)  OF  TEPOZTLAN,  STATE  OF  MORELOS,  MEXICO 

This  view  is  from  the  west  or  back  and  shows  a  stairway  and  also  the  built  up  mound  forming  the 
foundation.  The  front  is  entered  by  a  broad  flight  of  about  fourteen  steps.  The  construction  is 
stone.  The  site,  formerly  approached  by  flights  of  steps,  is  on  the  summit  of  a  high  and  dangerously 
precipitous  mountain.  The  ground  plan,  about  30  ft.  square,  is  similar  to  the  first  plan  on  page  238, 
with  a  front  like  the  second.  The  outer  walls  are  i  meter,  90  centimeters  thick.  They  were  covered 
with  a  smooth  cement,  which  was  painted  in  different  colors.  See  page  240. 

391 


392 


The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


preferred  the  pagan  rites,  legends,  and  myths  of  his  ancestors. 
Probably  certain  lines  and  passages  were  repeated  in  the  archaic 
form  in  which  they  had  been  handed  down  for  generations.  .  .  . 
The  cosmogony  describes  the  formation  of  the  world  by  the  Great 
Manito,  and  its  subsequent  despoliation  by  the  spirit  of  the  waters, 
under  the  form  of  a  serpent.  The  happy  days  are  depicted,  when 
men  lived  without  wars  or  sickness,  and  food  was  at  all  times 
abundant.  Evil  beings  of  mysterious  power  introduced  cold  and 
war  and  sickness  and  premature  death.  Then  began  strife  and 
long  wanderings."1  We  can  readily  understand  how  a  few 
rude  lines  could  recall  to  the  Amerind  mind  a  whole  story,  and 
especially  to  the  mind  of  one  trained  to  exercise  his  memory  in 
such  directions.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  do  more  for  the 
Christian  reader  than  write  "Xmas,"  and  he  can  from  it  review 
the  whole  wonderful  story  of  Christ  in  all  its  details.  So  it  was 
with  the  Amerind.  Those  entrusted  with  the  preservation  of  the 
legends,  etc.,  learned  them  perfectly  and  year  by  year  repeated 
them  on  the  proper  occasion  to  their  followers.  Changes  were 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

KWAKIUTL    WOOD    CARVING    OF   THE    SISUL  ,    NORTH-WEST   COAST 
Worn  in  front  of  the  stomach.     Length,  42  in.     See  page  168 

probably  sometimes  made  in  the  text  of  some  to  suit  them  to 
changed  conditions,  but  the  accuracy  was  so  great  that  myths  and 
legends  have  been  found  to  contain  archaic  words  which  the  mem 
bers  of  the  tribe  were  unable  to  explain,  and  which  yielded  only 
to  the  expert  analysis  of  a  white  linguist. 

1  D.  G.  Brinton,  The  Lenapeand  their  Legends,  pp.  158,  164. 


Tv/r      i        ^       i-   •  i    i  UNIV 

Myths,    1  raditions,  and   l^egends 

^5£CALJ 


UNIVERSITY 


With  the  Amerind  a  group  of  myths,  traditions,  and  legends 
developed  along  with  each  particular  stock.  Each  language  had 
its  own  accumulation  of  these  tales,  etc.,  relating  to  animals,  to 
natural  forces  personified,  and  sometimes  to  real  personages. 
Savage  races  worship  animal  gods  and  natural  objects  personified 
as  animals.1  In  the  middle  state  called  barbarism  the  religion 
becomes  a  worship  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  pure  and  simple, 
frequently  personified  as  animals  or  beings,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
thunder  and  lightning  generally  attributed  by  the  Amerinds  to  the 
mysterious  "  thunder-bird,"  which  is  also  believed  by  some  to  be 
a  great  being  who  takes  on  the  form  of  a  bird.  In  civilisation  the 
worship  of  one  God  takes  the  place  of  all  the  others,  while  the 
myths  and  legends  of  earlier  days  survive  in  mythological  litera 
ture  and  in  unconscious  thoughts  and  acts  of  individuals.  Look 
ing  at  the  moon  over  the  right  shoulder  for  luck,  objections  to  a 
certain  number,  the  belief  that  one  stone  is  lucky  and  another  un 
lucky,  are  all  remnants  of  the  era  of  zootheism,  physitheism,  and 
other  early  beliefs.2  Races  cannot  shake  off  earlier  beliefs  entirely, 
but  continue  them  under  changed  forms.  Thus  we  celebrate  many 
pagan  rites  in  our  holidays,  and  pay  a  tribute  to  the  Druid  priests 
every  time  we  suspend  a  branch  of  mistletoe  in  our  parlours  in  the 
season  when  the  sun  turns  his  course  towards  the  vernal  equinox. 

To  primitive  man  night  was  a  mysterious  phenomenon,  and 
dawn  often  became  personified  to  him  as  a  bright  and  fair  deliv 
erer,  a  beneficent  being  who  comes  out  of  the  east  bringing  a  train 
of  blessings.  Many  myths  recounting  the  coming  of  a  hero, 
prophet,  and  teacher  among  the  Amerinds  and  other  races  are  ac 
counted  for  as  being  dawn  myths,  but  there  is  danger  of  over 
working  this  convenient  hypothesis. 

In  our  literature  many  Amerind  myths  and  legends  have  be 
come  firmly  implanted,  and  they  are  now  as  much  a  part  of  it  as 
the  tale  of  Orpheus,  or  of  Theseus,  or  of  Hercules.  Some  of  them 
have  been  beautified  by  the  diction  of  our  poets,  and  Longfellow's 
rendering  of  Hiawatha  is  admired  the  world  over.  This  is  good 
literature,  but  it  is  not  good  ethnology,  because  in  it  an  Iroquois 

1  "  The  spirit  of  any  plant,  any  star,  or  other  personage  in  creation  may 
become  a  man's  attendant.     In  our  popular  phraseology  this  is  called  his 
medicine."  —  Jeremiah  Curtin,  Creation  Myths,  p.  29. 

2  See  "The  Lessons  of  Folklore,"  J.  W.  Powell,  American  Anthropolo 
gist,  vol.  ii.,  No.  I,  N.  S.,  January,  1900. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


RUSHING    EAGLE,    1872 
Second  chief  of  the  Mandans  and  son  of  Four  Bears,  Catlin's  great  friend 


394 


Myths,  Traditions,  and   Legends 


395 


hero-god  is  placed  in  a  setting  of  Algonquin  legends,  but  this  was 
not  Longfellow's  mistake,  but  Schoolcraft's,  on  whose  work  Long 
fellow  based  his  poem.  Jeremiah  Curtin  says:  "Schoolcraft, 
with  his  amazing  propensity  to  make  mistakes,  with  his  remark 
able  genius  for  missing  the  truth  and  confusing  everything  with 
which  he  came  in  contact,  gave  the  name 
Hiawatha  to  his  patchwork.  ...  In 
the  face  of  all  this  Schoolcraft  makes 
Hiawatha,  who  is  peculiarly  Iroquois,  the 
leading  personage  in  his  Algonkin  con 
glomerate  :  Hiawatha  being  an  Iroquois 
character  of  Central  New  York  (he  is  con 
nected  more  particularly  with  the  region 
about  Schenectady),  while  the  actions  to 
which  Schoolcraft  relates  him  pertain  to 
the  Algonkin  Chippewas  near  Lake  Supe 
rior.  It  is  as  if  Europeans  at  some  future 
age  were  to  have  placed  before  them  a  great 
epic  narrative  of  French  heroic  adventure 
in  which  Prince  Bismarck  would  appear  as 
the  chief  and  central  Gallic  figure  in  the 
glory  and  triumph  of  France."  1 

But  Hiawatha,  nevertheless,  is  incorporated  in  our  language 
and  our  literature,  and  altogether  the  conquered  race,  as  was  in 
evitable,  has  left  an  impress  on  our  character,  on  our  language, 
on  our  geography,  and  on  our  literature  which  can  never,  even  if 
desired,  be  effaced.  The  mark  of  our  contact  with  the  red  man  is 
upon  us  indelibly  and  forever.  George  Bancroft  is  not  quite  right 
when  he  says,  "The  memorials  of  their  former  existence  are 
found  only  in  the  names  of  the  rivers  and  the  mountains." 
These  memorials  have  not  only  permeated  our  poetry  and  litera 
ture  generally,  but  they  are  perpetuated  in  our  daily  food,  and 
every  mention  of  "  succotash,"  of  "  mush,"  of  "  chocolate,"  is  a 
tribute  to  their  existence,' while  the  fragrance  of  the  "tobacco" 
we  smoke  is  incense  to  their  memory.  Mrs.  Sigourney  touched 
this  subject  prettily  in  the  little  poem  entitled  Indian  Names  : 

"  Ye  say  they  all  have  passed  away, 
That  noble  race  and  brave, 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

FINE  CLOTH  PRESERVED 
BY  COPPER  BEADS 


•'Jeremiah  Curtin,  Creation  Myths  of  Primitive  America,  p.  499. 


396  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

That  their  light  canoes  have  vanished 

From  off  the  crested  wave  ; 
That  mid  the  forests  where  they  roamed 

There  rings  no  hunter's  shout, 
But  their  name  is  on  your  waters, 

Ye  may  not  wash  it  out. 

"Ye  say  their  cone-like  cabins 

That  clustered  o'er  the  vale 
Have  fled  away  like  withered  leaves 

Before  the  autumn  gale. 
But  their  memory  liveth  on  your  hills, 

Their  baptism  on  your  shore  ; 
Your  everlasting  rivers  speak 

Their  dialect  of  yore." 

And  she  might  have  added  that  their  gods  have  seated  them 
selves  with  those  of  the  Greeks  in  our  libraries  ;  that  Michabo, 
Tlaloc,  Quetzalcohuatl,  and  others  are  now  companions  of  Jupiter 
and  Neptune ;  in  short,  that  their  literature,  which  relied  on  oral 
transmission,  has  to  a  large  extent  been  crystallised  in  our  printed 
pages. 

The  Amerind,  not  fortified  by  our  modern  knowledge  and 
philosophy,  regarded  the  outer  world  in  a  far  different  way  from 
what  we  do.  To  him  it  was  not  a  place  where  a  gold  mine  might 
be  found,  or  good  grazing  or  tillable  soil,  but  he  looked  upon  the 
far  distance  as  the  home  of  magical  beings.  Did  the  wind  blow  ? 
It  was  the  breath  of  some  monster  dwelling  in  a  cave  in  the  far 
west,  or  it  was  the  beating  of  the  wings  of  giant  birds  living  at 
the  four  quarters  of  the  compass.  It  was  not  to  the  sky  alone  that 
he  looked  for  the  abode  of  his  gods  ;  they  came  to  him  from  every 
direction,  even  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  We  know  what  the 
earth  contains  and  we  grope  for  the  unknown.  The  Amerind  did 
not  know  what  the  earth  contains  ;  it  was  still  to  him  the  abode  of 
monsters  and  ghosts. 

There  is  in  some  respects  so  great  a  similarity  between  the 
myths  of  the  New  World  and  those  of  the  Old,  that  it  was  at  first 
assumed  that  there  must  have  been  early  communication  with 
Europe,  but  more  careful  analysis  has  shown  that  this  is  but  an 
other  evidence  of  what  may  be  called  the  parallelism  of  human  de 
velopment.  Even  where  the  similarity  is  greatest  there  is  nothing 
to  prove  that  the  myths  did  not  originate  independently,  and  they 


Myths,   Traditions,   and   Legends  397 

are  merely  the  results  of  similar  thoughts,  in  similar  stages  of 
ignorance,  about  the  sun,  the  sky,  and  natural  forces. 

The  Popol  Vuh,  the  great  collection  of  Quiche  myths,  presents 
Gukumatz  as  one  of  the  four  principal  gods  who  created  the 
world.  Gukumatz  means  shining  or  brilliant  snake,  and  hence 
seems  to  be  the  same  character  as  that  known  to  the  Nahuatls,  or 
Aztecs,  as  Quetzalcohuatl,  whose  name  also  means  bright  or  shin 
ing  snake.  But  among  the  Aztecs  Quetzalcohuatl  is  represented 
as  a  man,  while  Gukumatz  is  purely  a  god.  Quetzalcohuatl  was 
the  third  of  the  four  Mexican  or  Aztec  gods,  and  to  him  is 
ascribed  all  the  wisdom  which  came  to  the  Aztecs.  He  appears 
under  two  forms,  as  a  god  and  as  an  historical  personage.  He 
has  been  frequently  identified  with  the  dawn,  but  there  seems  to 
be  good  reason  for  believing  that  he  was  a  real  character,  who  be 
came  deified  as  his  good  deeds  passed  down  to  successive  genera 
tions.  Such  prophets  and  teachers  rise  up  in  all  times,  in  all 
ages,  by  the  wayside  of  tribal  or  national  development,  like 
some  rare  and  favoured  tree  of  the  forest  which  out-tops  all  the 
others.  A  divine  origin  may  be  claimed  for  these  teachers  and 
prophets,  but  generally  they  are  only  men  endowed  with  an  ex 
tremely  fine  moral  sense  and  with  a  perception  and  knowledge 
beyond  their  time.  ' '  Among  the  Tzendals  of  Chiapas,  the  tradition 
of  Votan,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  founder  of  that  tribe, 
bears  great  resemblance  to  Quetzalcohuatl. ' '  '  After  an  admirable 
discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  character  and  origin  of  Quetzalco 
huatl,  Bandelier  sifts  the  matter  down  to  this:  that  he  was  "  a 
prominent  gifted  Indian  leader,  who  certainly  preceded  the  coming 
of  those  Nahuatl  tribes  that  subsequently  formed  the  valley  confed 
eracy,  as  well  as  that  of  the  later  tribe  of  Tlaxcallan.  The  claim  to 
his  origin  accordingly  rests  between  the  so-called  Toltecs  on  one  side 
and  the  Olmeca  and  Xicalanca  on  the  other."  2  Brinton  believed 
that  Quetzalcohuatl  was  a  pure  personification  of  the  dawn  myth,3 
but  there  is  too  much  testimony  on  the  opposite  side  to  permit  the 
acceptance  of  this  opinion  as  final.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
there  were  very  good,  extremely  good,  almost  saintly,  men,  and 

1  Bandelier,  Archceological  Tour,  p.  180. 

'2  Ibid.,  p.  193.  See  p.  170  et  seq.  for  his  whole  discussion  of  Quetzalco 
huatl.  See  also  the  "Book  of  Quetzalcohuatl."  Payne,  History  of  the 
New  World,  II.,  p.  435  et  seq. 

3  American  Hero  Myths,  p.  64  et  seq. 


Potsherd 


Clay  Cast 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 


Potsherd  Clay  Cast 

ANCIENT   FABRIC-MARKED    POTSHERDS,    WITH    CLAY    CASTS    BY    HOLMES 
See  page  108 

393 


Myths,   Traditions,   and   Legends  399 

women,  too,  among  the  Amerinds.  The  historical  Mexican 
tribes  were  preceded  by  other  tribes,  some  of  which  had  appar 
ently  reached  a  higher  state  of  culture  than  the  Aztecs,  and  Quet- 
zalcohuatl  possibly  came  from  one  of  them  as  a  teacher  to  the 
newer  and  less  cultivated  people  ;  newer  in  the  sense  of  having 
come  into  that  region  from  some  distance  off.  There  is  nothing 
preposterous  in  supposing  that  there  were  teachers  and  moralists 
in  the  early  days  of  this  continent.  The  character  of  a  high- 
thinking  teacher  is  not  incompatible  with  some  of  the  tribes  that 
have  lived  and  died  on  North-American  soil.  As  stated  pre 
viously,  never  were  all  the  tribes  of  the  continent  in  one  culture 
condition  ;  there  were  always  tribes  that  could  teach  something  to 
other  tribes,  and  undoubtedly  philanthropic  individuals  sometimes 
attempted  the  role  of  missionaries,  just  as  they  do  in  other  races 
to-day.  In  fact,  the  recent  "Resurrection  Dance"  or  "Ghost 
Dance"  had  its  prophet  who  preached  to  the  natives  that  "  the 
earth  was  to  be  all  good  hereafter  ;  that  we  must  be  friends  with 
one  another. ' '  Fighting,  he  declared,  was  ' '  bad  and  all  must  keep 
from  it."  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  his  religious  teachings  rest  on 
a  well-ordained  religious  system,  and  in  spite  of  the  numerous 
false  reports  that  are  spread  about  him,  he  does  not  claim  to 
be  either  God  or  Jesus  Christ,  the  Messiah,  or  any  divine,  superhu 
man  being  whatever.  'I  am  the  annunciator  of  God's  message 
from  the  spiritual  world  and  a  prophet  for  the  Indian  people,'  is 
the  way  he  defines  the  scope  of  his  work  among  men. 
Thus  he  considers  himself  a  messenger  of  God  appointed  in  a 
dream,  and  has  on  that  account  compared  himself  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist."  1  This  man  is  a  full-blood,  and  it  is  evident  that  such  an 
inspiration  might  have  seized  a  man  of  a  similar  temperament  at 
any  period  of  Amerind  history,  and  given  rise  finally  to  legends  and 
worship  that  would  incorrectly  be  ascribed  to  the  myth  of  the  dawn. 

Quetzalcohuatl  at  length  departed  with  a  promise  to  return,  and 
it  was  the  belief  that  he  would  return  that  caused  Montezuma  to 
at  first  mistake  the  bearded  Spaniards  for  his  emissaries.  Quet 
zalcohuatl  also  wore  a  beard. 

Michabo,  the  Algonquin  counterpart  of  Quetzalcohuatl,  was 
considered  to  be  the  ancestor  of  the  whole  tribe,  the  founder  of 
their  ceremonies,  the  inventor  of  picture-writing,  the  ruler  of  the 

1  A.  S.  Gatschet,  "  An  Indian  Visit  to  Jack  Wilson,  the  Payute  Messiah," 
Journal  of  American  folk-Lore. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu.  George  Catlin,  1835 

EHTOHKPAHSHEPEESHAH,    THE   BLACK   MOCCASIN,    CHIEF   OF   THE   MINATAREES 

OVER    100  YEARS   OLD 


40O 


Myths,   Traditions,   and   Legends  401 

weather,  the  creator  and  preserver  of  earth  and  heaven.  "  From 
a  grain  of  sand,"  says  Brinton,  "brought  from  the  bottom  of  the 
primeval  ocean  he  fashioned  the  habitable  land  and  set  it  floating 
on  the  waters  till  it  grew  to  such  a  size  that  a  strong  young  wolf, 
running  constantly,  died  of  old  age  ere  he  reached  its  limits." 

Among  the  Iroquois  the  hero-god  was  called  loskeha,  and  he 
possessed  many  of  the  qualities  of  Michabo  and  Quetzalcohuatl, 
etc.,  though  in  his  case  as  well  as  that  of  Michabo  there  seems  to 
be  no  historical  evidence  of  existence,  as  there  is  with  Quetzalcoh 
uatl,  and  therefore  they  may  be,  as  claimed  by  Brinton  and  others, 
merely  dawn  myths.  It  is  possible  that  they  may  be  compounds 
of  a  dawn  myth  and  one  or  more  actual  personages. 

The  hero-god  of  the  Mayas  was  Itzamna,  and  he  was  a  bene 
ficent  personage  like  the  others.  Like  Cadmus,  he  invented  let 
ters,  and  he  also  devised  their  calendar.  He  is  spoken  of  as  an 
historical  personage  and  "  is  intimately  associated  with  the  noble 
edifices  of  Itzamal,  which  he  laid  out  and  constructed,  and  over 
which  he  ruled,  enacting  wise  laws  and  extending  the  power  and 
happiness  of  his  people  for  an  indefinite  period."  '  Brinton  iden 
tifies  him  with  the  dawn  myth,  but  here  again  it  is  not  conclusive. 
It  seems  quite  as  probable  that  he  was  a  real  person,  upon  whose 
history  certain  myths  have  been  engrafted. 

In  putting  the  Amerind  stories  into  other  languages,  embel 
lishments  and  variations  have  often  been  introduced,  or  the 
translators  have  been  deceived  by  interpreters  or  by  the  Amerinds 
themselves,  while  sometimes  both  causes  have  operated  to  colour  or 
to  alter  the  tales.  Schoolcraft  has  generally  been  regarded  as  a 
faithful  recorder,  but  in  some  instances  he  has  gone  considerably 
astray.  In  his  time  the  Amerinds  were  not  so  well  understood, 
nor  were  the}7,  in  all  their  various  stocks,  so  accessible  as  now. 

Formerly  the  European  was  prepared  to  find  in  the  Amerind 
rites  evidences  of  the  Lost  Tribes  of  Israel,  of  the  Chinese,  or  some 
other  extraordinary  or  romantic  idea.  He  was  not  content  to 
take  things  as  they  were.  Marquette  on  arriving  at  Green  Bay 
was  delighted  with  what  he  believed  to  be  an  evidence  of  Christ 
ianity,  a  large  cross  set  up  in  the  middle  of  the  village,  adorned 
with  skins,  bows,  etc., which  the  people  were  offering  to  their  gods. 
It  was  only  one  of  the  symbols  of  the  Mide  society,  and  was  in  use 
long  before  the  Discovery.  In  the  same  way  Coronado  found 

1  American  Hero  Myths,  p.  147. 

26 


Photographed  by  M.  H.  Saville 

LACANDON   (MAYAN)   AMERIND    FROM   CHOCOLHAO,    YUCATAN 

402 


Myths,   Traditions,   and   Legends  403 

crosses  in  New  Mexico,  and  there  were  also  in  Yucatan  the  tablets 
of  the  cross  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  early  Span 
iards  turned  loose  their  own  myths  in  the  New  World  and  then 
started  in  pursuit  of  them.  Columbus  himself  was  the  first  to  float 
the  Amazon  myth  to  these  shores,  for  in  a  letter  to  Rafael  Sanchez 
he  speaks  of  an  island  inhabited  solely  by  women,  and  the  Span 
iards  had  a  long  and  fruitless  chase  after  it.1  Thus  they  also  pur 
sued  the  myth  of  the  Seven  Cities,  El  Dorado,  and  similar  tales. 
El  Dorado,  or,  "  The  Gilded  Man,"  really  existed  in  a  certain  cere 
mony  in  Peru,  where  a  man  was  covered  with  gold  dust,  but 
when  the  Spaniards  had  taken  all  the  gold  from  these  people  they 
went  on  hunting  for  Kl  Dorado  just  the  same,  though  they  never 
found  him  again. 

Certain  resemblances  between  the  myths  of  the  Amerinds  and 
those  of  the  Israelites  increased  the  belief  that  the  American  race 
is  the  lyost  Tribes.  The  Mormons  specially  hold  to  this  opinion. 
But  there  is  positively  no  ground  for  the  belief.  The  peculiar  in 
terest,  however,  which  attaches  to  a  comparison  of  Amerind  and 
Israelite  myths  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  resemble  each  other,  not 
only  generically,  but  specifically.  They  are  alike  in  their  details. 
Mallery  has  given  much  attention  to  this  subject,  and  he  says  that 
"an  Ojibway  tradition  tells  the  adventures  of  eight,  ten,  and  some 
times  twelve  brothers,  the  youngest  of  whom  is  the  wisest  and  the 
most  beloved  of  their  father,  and  especially  favoured  by  the  high 
powers.  He  delivers  his  brothers  from  many  difficulties  which 
were  brought  about  by  their  folly  and  disobedience.  Particularly 
he  supplies  them  with  corn.  .  .  .  The  Chahta  have  an  elab 
orate  story  of  their  migrations,  in  which  they  were  guided  by  a 
pole  leaning  in  the  direction  which  they  should  take,  and  remain 
ing  vertical  at  each  place  where  they  should  encamp.  A  still 
closer  resemblance  to  the  guidance  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desert  by 
a  pillar  of  fire  is  found  in  the  legendary  migrations  of  the  Tusayan 
(Mokis),when  indication  was  made  by  the  movement  and  the  halting 
of  a  star.  The  Pai  Utes  were  sustained  in  a  great  march  through 
the  desert  by  water  that  continually  filled  the  magic  cup  given  to 
the  Sokus  Waiunats  in  a  dream  until  all  were  satisfied  ;  and  a 
similarly  miraculous  supply  of  food  to  the  starving  multitude  is 
reported  by  the  same  people.  In  the  genesis  myth  of  the  Tusayan, 

'Payne  accepts  the  Amazon  stories  as  true.  History  of  the  New 
World,  vol.  ii.,  p.  n. 


404 


Myths,   Traditions,   and   Legends  405 

the  culture  hero  was  enabled  to  pass  dry-shod  through  lakes  and 
rivers  by  throwing  a  staff  upon  the  waters,  which  were  at  once 
divided  as  by  walls.  .  .  .  Mr.  W.  W.  Warren,  in  his  -History  of 
the  Ojibway  Nation,  tells  that  he  sometimes  translated  parts  of 
Bible  history  to  the  old  Ojibway  men,  and  their  expression  invari 
ably  was,  '  The  book  must  be  true,  for  our  ancestors  have  told 
us  similar  stories  generation  after  generation  since  the  earth  was 
new.'  '  There  is  also  a  strong  resemblance  between  many  of  the 
Amerind  myths  and  stories,  and  those  of  the  negro,  as  anyone  may 
see  who  will  compare  them  with  Harris's  delightful  Uncle  Remus. 

All  races  have  malignant  sprites  that  haunt  rocks  and  watering 
places,  and  the  Amerind  was  no  exception.  The  Uinkarets  of 
Arizona  declared  that  a  certain  water-pocket  where  we  camped  was 
a  favourite  resort  of  the  Woonupits,  a  little  elf  that  is  full  of  mis 
chief,  and  Chuar  one  night  insisted  that  he  heard  one  whistling  in 
the  forest.  He  fired  a  shot  out  into  the  darkness  to  drive  it 
away.  He  did  this  with  great  solemnity  and  deliberation,  and 
there  was  no  question  as  to  his  faith  in  the  belief.  The  same  lit 
tle  elf  crops  out  in  the  Moki  country  in  the  form  of  the  Kwokwuli, 
a  malignant  sprite  lurking  in  out-of-the-way  places.  He  is  about 
knee-high  and  conceals  himself  behind  a  rock  or  bush,  like  the 
Breton  Kerrigans  inhabiting  the  Dolmens,  and  when  a  Moki  ap 
pears  he  calls  out  in  a  shrill  falsetto  voice,  ' '  Kwo-kwul-i-nl-i. ' '  If 
the  hearer  gives  no  heed  to  the  cry  he  may  pass  by  in  safety,  but 
should  he  willingly  or  unwillingly  express  any  notice  he  must  ap 
proach  the  elf,  who  immediately  climbs  on  his  back  and  holds  fast 
round  his  neck — Sindbad's  Old-Man-of-the-Sea  over  again.  The 
elf  has  only  rudimentary  legs  and  no  wings,  and  this  is  his  method 
of  journeying  from  place  to  place. 

The  Amerinds  of  the  straits  of  Fuca  have  distinct  traditions  of 
the  Eskimo  as  a  race  of  dwarfs,  who  live  in  the  "  always  dark 
country,"  on  the  ice,  dive  and  catch  whales  with  their  hands,  and 
produce  the  aurora  by  boiling  out  the  blubber,  the  fires  reflecting 
on  the  sky.  The  Iroquois  had  legends  of  great  giants,  as  also  had 
other  tribes,  which  were  due  probably  to  the  same  cause  as  the 
dwarf  Eskimo  myths  :  ignorance  of  the  outside  world.  These 
were  stone  giants,  and  they  inhabited  the  west.  Once  upon  a  time 
they  started  to  come  and  destroy  the  Senecas,  and  a  war  party  of 
the  latter  proceeded  to  the  encounter.  Before  the  battle  came  off 
a  mighty  wind  came  out  of  the  west  and  swept  all  the  giants  into 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


COSTUME   WORN    IN   THE    KWAKIUTL    FESTIVALS   CALLED    LAOLAXA, 

NORTH-WEST  COAST 

406 


Myths,  Traditions,  and   Legends  407 

a  vast  abyss  from  which  they  could  not  escape,  and  because  of 
this  friendly  act  the  West  Wind  became  one  of  the  Seneca  gods, 
and  was  revered  ever  after.  And  the  Eskimo,  while  themselves 
furnishing  the  material  for  more  southerly  tribes  to  build  myths 
on,  have  their  own  tales  of  a  tribe  called  Ardnainiq,  living  in  the 
extreme  North-west.  The  men  of  this  people  are  small  as  children, 
but  entirely  covered  with  hair.  They  are  carried  about  in  the 
hoods  of  their  wives  like  babies,  the  wives  being  of  normal  size. 
They  have  also  stories  of  a  race  of  women.  The  Iroquois  believed 
that  there  was  a  strange  creature  consisting  simply  of  a  head  with 
large  eyes  and  long  hair,  called  "  Great  Head."  When  he  saw 
any  live  thing  he  growled,  '  *  I  see  thee,  I  see  thee,  thou  shalt 
die."  They  also  had  their  race  of  dwarfs  with  wonderful  powers, 
who  carved  the  cliffs  and  caves  and  could  destroy  monster  animals. 

The  coyote,  the  bear,  the  sun,  and  all  the  animals  are  endowed 
with  speech  and  great  cunning,  the  coyote  especially  so  among 
some  of  the  Western  tribes,  and  are  conceived  as  possessing  human 
attributes,  like  the  ''Brer  Rabbit"  and  other  animals  whose 
prowess  is  related  by  Uncle  Remus.  But  the  Kskimo,  according 
to  A.  L.  Kroeber,  have  comparatively  few  animal  stories.  Ex 
amples  of  these  animal  stories  may  be  found  in  the  reports  of  the 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology  and  other  publications.  Lack  of 
space  prevents  me  from  introducing  any  here. 

The  slightest  misunderstood  noise  is  sufficient  to  rouse  the 
Amerind  imagination,  of  which  I  had  an  illustration  in  Arizona. 
I  arrived  at  an  out-of-the-way  mine  one  night  with  two  Amer 
ind  guides.  It  was  winter  and  a  stone  cabin  was  placed  at  my 
disposal,  to  which  I  sent  the  natives  while  my  white  compan 
ions  and  I  visited  the  men  in  charge.  The  natives  presently 
came  in,  saying  there  was  something  wrong  at  the  cabin,  and  they 
would  not  stay  in  it  or  even  near  it.  When  we  investigated  we 
discovered  that  the  wrhole  trouble  arose  from  the  ticking  of  a  small 
clock,  which  we  forthwith  stopped  ;  but  nevertheless  they  would 
not  remain  there  alone. 

Flood  stories  are  numerous  with  all  tribes,  and  whether  they 
arose  in  local  inundations  or  in  some  vast  and  general  flood  can 
not  now  be  determined.  If  in  the  latter,  it  would  be  melting  ice 
of  the  glacial  period.  A  fabulous  being  in  Eskimo  mythology  is 
Kalopaling,  who  lives  in  the  sea.  His  bod}^  is  like  that  of  a  human 
being  and  he  wears  clothing  made  out  of  eider  ducks'  skins.  His 


408  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

jacket  has  an  enormous  hood,  into  which  he  thrusts  any  boatman 
that  may  be  drowned.  He  cannot  speak,  but  merely  cry,  "  Be  1 
be  !  be  !  be  !  "  An  Eskimo  flood  tale  relates  how  the  ocean  long  ago 
rose  till  it  covered  the  whole  land,  even  to  the  tops  of  the  mountains, 
till  the  ice  drifted  over  them.  When  the  flood  subsided  the  ice 
stranded  and  has  ever  since  formed  a  cap  on  their  summits. 

The  keepers  of  the  mythological  tales  were  the  shamans,  and 
they  are  the  real  powers,  generally,  in  a  tribe.  Had  Cortes  under 
stood  this  point  he  would  have  seized,  not  the  war-chief,  Monte- 
zuma,  but  one  of  the  shamans,  who  would  have  been  more  valuable 
as  a  hostage.  Many  of  the  shamans  are  believed  to  be  able  to  pass 
through  fire  unharmed,  and  to  handle  it  with  impunity  ;  to  be  able 
to  change  themselves  into  coyotes,  etc.,  and  then  return  to  their 
normal  shape,  all  at  their  own  pleasure. 

A  legend  of  Montezuma's  coming  has  been  attributed  to  the 
Pueblos  of  New  Mexico,  but  this  is  an  error,  for  they  knew  no 
thing  about  Montezuma  till  the  whites  came  into  the  country. 
There  are  a  great  many  legends  concerning  the  occupation  of  this 
or  that  place,  and  one  of  these,  the  legend  of  the  former  occupa 
tion  of  the  Mesa  Encantada,  or, "  Enchanted  Mesa,"  New  Mexico, 
has  recently  caused  a  lively  discussion  between  two  distinguished 
ethnologists,  as  to  whether  some  Puebloans  did  or  did  not  once 
live  on  top  of  the  mesa  as  related,  Both  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
top.  One  found  no  evidence  of  any  continued  occupation  of  the 
mesa  top  ;  the  other  found  what  he  accepted  as  sufficient  evidence  of 
the  truth  of  the  legend  that  Pueblos  had  once  lived  there  and  had 
been  cut  off  from  the  world  below  and  destroyed  by  a  fearful  storm. 

Large  portions  of  the  Maya  chronicles  relate  the  predictions  of 
the  astrologers,  seers,  or  prophets,  and  after  the  habit  of  the  class 
they  foretold  all  manner  of  evil,  but  strangely  enough  they  seem 
to  have  foretold  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  for  they  said  that 
white  and  bearded  strangers  would  come  and  control  the  land  and 
alter  the  prevailing  religion.  What  was  it  that  instilled  them 
with  this  faith  or  fear?  Was  it  coincidence,  or  was  it  what  is 
now  termed  telepathy  ?  Whatever  it  was,  the  terrible  fulfilment 
came  upon  their  race  like  a  cyclone  ;  and  when  one  more  century 
has  passed  away  the  Amerind  race  will  be  more  truly  even  than 
now,  the  North- Americans  of  Yesterday.1 

1  For  some  Amerind  legends  delightfully  related,  see  Pawnee  Lodge 
Tales,  and  other  books,  by  George  Bird  Grinnell. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
ESKIMO   MASK   OF  WOOD,  PRINCE  WILLIAM    SOUND,    ALASKA 


CHAPTER  XV 

ORGANISATION  AND    GOVERNMENT 

TRIBES  often  had  a  definite  organisation  and  a  regular  gov 
ernment,  and  each  held  sway  over  a  territory  with  fixed 
boundaries.     When  the  limits  were  not  placed  at  a  river, 
lake,  or  mountain  range   they  were  marked  by  certain  trees  or 
stones,  or  other  natural  features  along  the  trails.    When  at  peace, 
those  who  entered  another  domain  were  considered  visitors,  and 
they  were  expected  to  be  friendly  with  all  friends  of  the  occupants 
of  the  region.     "Both  the   Kuchins  and  the  Eskimos  are  very 
jealous,"  says  H.  H.  Bancroft,  "regarding  their  boundaries." 

When  I  was  once  coming  out  of  the  Shevwits  country,  my 
Uinkarets  guide  exclaimed  as  we  passed  a  certain  bowlder  near  the 
trail,  "Now  we  are  out  of  the  Shevwits  land."  Beyond  that 
point  the  Shevwits  would  not  venture  except  in  a  friendly  way, 
so  long  as  they  were  friendly  with  the  owners  of  the  land.  I  re 
joiced  in  this  fact  at  the  time  because  the  Shevwits  had  not  been 
entirely  agreeable,  and  I  was  glad  to  pass  the  point  where  I  was 
certain  they  would  not  bother  us.  We  were  now  in  the  country 
of  the  Santa  Clara  tribe. 

1  Native  Races,  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 
410 


Organisation  and  Government  411 

The  Iroquois  had  the  habit  of  occupying  both  banks  of  a  river 
or  lake,  hence  they  did  not  utilise  these  as  boundaries,  but  ran 
straight  lines,  marked  here  and  there  by  some  well-known  object. 
"On  the  boundary  line  between  the  Onondagas  and  Orieidas," 
says  Morgan,1  "  the  most  prominent  point  was  the  Deep  Spring 
(Deosongwa)  near  Manlius,  in  the  county  of  Onondaga.  This 
spring  not  only  marked  the  limital  line  between  them,  but  it  was 
a  well-known  stopping-place  on  the  great  central  trail  or  highway 
of  the  Iroquois.  .  .  .  From  Deep  Spring  the  line  ran  due 
south  into  Pennsylvania,  crossing  the  Susquehanna  near  its  con 
fluence  with  the  Chenango.  North  of  this  spring  the  line  was 
deflected  to  the  west,  leaving  in  the  Oneida  territory  the  whole 
circuit  of  the  lake.  Crossing  the  She-u-ka  or  Oneida  outlet,  a  few 
miles  below  the  lake,  the  line  inclined  again  to  the  east,  until  it 
reached  the  meridian  of  the  Deep  Spring.  From  thence  it  ran 
due  north,  crossing  Black  River,  at  the  site  of  Watertown,  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  eastward  of  the  Thousand  Islands. ' ' 

This  line  separated  territories  belonging  to  two  tribes  of  the 
celebrated  league,  and  was  not  a  boundary  between  hostile  or  dif 
ferent  tribes.  The  Iroquois  were  exact  about  their  internal 
boundary  lines,  because  it  served  to  keep  each  member  of  the  con 
federacy  distinct  and  independent,  and  enabled  the  idea  of  home 
rule  to  be  properly  carried  out.  They  always  knew  just  whose 
ground  they  were  on,  just  as  we  know  to-da}^  which  county  or 
State  we  are  in.  It  was  another  mark  of  the  wisdom  with  which 
the  confederacy  was  planned. 

When  the  whites  came  to  these  shores  and  took  possession 
right  and  left  of  the  soil,  they  immediately  stirred  up  the  hostility 
of  the  owners,  who  naturally  desired  to  be  considered  in  the  matter. 
Penn  did  consider  them,  and  he  had  no  trouble  ;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  much  of  the  fighting  and  enmity  which  followed  our  com 
ing  might  have  been  avoided  if  Europeans  had  more  fully  recog 
nised  the  native  rights  and  had  paid  a  fair  equivalent  for  what 
they  wanted.  But  there  was  nothing  to  compel  this  attention  to 
the  moral  side,  and  justice  must  have  force  to  bind  it ;  besides, 
owing  to  the  large  influx  of  whites,  the  Amerinds  were  inevitably 
driven  back.  The  English  in  a  measure  finally  recognised  the 
Iroquois  rights  and  then  afterwards  turned  this  to  good  account 
by  claiming  sovereignty  over  the  territory  on  the  ground  that  the 
1  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  43. 


412  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

Iroquois  were  British  subjects.  The  Navajos  recognise  the  San 
Juan  River  as  their  northern  limit  and  the  Southern  Utes  corre 
spondingly  accepted  it  as  their  southern  limit.  "The  claims  of 
the  Susquehannocks  extended  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay  on  the 
east  shore,  as  far  as  the  Choptank  River  and  on  the  west  shore  as 
far  as  the  Patuxent.  In  1654  they  ceded  to  the  government  of 
Maryland  their  southern  territory  to  these  boundaries."  '  Thus 
it  is  proved  that  Maryland  recognised  their  ownership.  These 
examples  are  enough  to  show  that  the  territorial  rights  of  each 
tribe  were  definitely  understood,  just  as  nations  to-day  have  estab 
lished  limits.  When  the  settlements  of  our  people  finally  crowded 
tribes  back  upon  each  other's  domain,  a  great  deal  of  confusion 
and  dispute  arose  as  to  ownership,  and  when  the  government  be 
gan  to  pay  for  lands  it  was  often  necessary  to  pay  for  the  same 
tract  several  times,  owing  to  the  conflicting  claims. 

Scattered  over  the  territory  claimed  or  held  by  a  tribe  were  the 
houses  and  villages  of  the  tribe  or  the  sub-tribes.  Powell  states 
that  "  every  tribe  lived  in  a  village,  and  every  village  constituted 
a  distinct  tribe."  But  the  village  was  often  spread  over  a  wide 
region.  Speaking  of  this,  Adair  says  :  "  A  stranger  might  be  in 
the  middle  of  one  of  their  populous,  extensive  towns  without  seeing 
half  a  dozen  houses  in  the  direct  course  of  his  path."  2  But  this 
was  only  in  the  interior  of  the  country  of  a  tribe.  Along  the  front 
ier  the  towns  would  be  more  compactly  arranged,  in  order  that 
the  people  might  easily  be  called  to  defend  them.  The  villages 
were  usually  permanent,  though  they  were  frequently,  some  annu 
ally,  abandoned  temporarily  at  certain  seasons  for  the  pursuit  of 
game  or  for  some  other  good  reason,  all  the  people  coming  to 
gether  again  as  the  cold  weather  approached.  The  Navajos  often 
have  a  winter  home  in  the  lower,  sheltered  lands  of  their  territory, 
while  in  summer  they  proceed  to  the  higher  levels  where  the  win 
ter  snows  are  deep  and  the  summer  grass  is  high.  Each  Amerind 
village  always  had  at  least  one  assembly  place  for  which  they 
had  their  special  names,  but  the  general  term  that  is  now 
often  used  by  ethnologists  is  that  of  kiva*  borrowed  from  the 
Mokis,  because  the  Moki  kiva  is  a  representative  of  the  general  as 
sembly  hall  and  council-chamber,  or  lodge.  The  kiva,  besides 

1  Brinton,  The  Lenape,  p.  15. 

"  History  of  the  American  Indians,  p.  282. 

3  See  Mactnillan's  Dictionary  of  Architecture  ;  pronounced  kee-vah. 


Photographed  by  J.  K.  Millers,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 

PLENTY-HORSES,    A    CHEYENNE 

413 


414  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

being  used  for  social  purposes,  as  a  lounging-place  and  a  working- 
place  for  the  men,  is  also  used  for  religious  functions.  Those 
structures,  therefore,  which  crowned  the  mounds  of  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  and  are  usually  designated  as  "temples," 
were  possibly  more  of  the  nature  of  kivas,  a  temple  in  our 
usage  being  a  structure  devoted  solely  to  worship,  whereas  many 
Amerind  buildings  of  this  class  were  used  for  various  purposes. 
Often  there  were  several,  depending  on  the  size  of  the  tribe.  The 
tribe  was  organised  on  the  basis  of  the  gens  or  the  clan,  and  each 
gens  or  clan  might  have  its  own  kiva.  They  might  also  belong 
to  some  of  the  secret  orders,  so  that  we  may  enumerate  three 
kinds  :  the  tribal,  or  chief  kiva,  the  kiva  belonging  to  the  gens  or 
clan,  and  the  kiva  belonging  to  the  phratry,  or  secret  society.  The 
gens  and  the  clan  were  groups  of  blood  relations,  or,  as  put  by 
Powell,  "an  organised  body  of  consanguineal  kindred."  l  The 
members  of  a  gens  often  lived  in  one  house  or  in  a  group  of 
houses  ;  for  example,  among  the  Iroquois  in  the  long-house,'2 
with  its  row  of  camp-fires,  while  in  some  other  tribes  each  family 
might  have  its  own  house  or  tent,  but  they  would  then  generally 
pitch  or  build  it  contiguous  to  the  other  habitations  of  their  gens. 
It  was  this  principle,  in  vogue  in  almost  all  the  tribes  of  America, 
which  directed  the  character  of  most  of  the  Amerind  structures. 
Everybody  in  a  tribe  belonged  to  a  gens  or  clan,  otherwise  he 
could  not  be  in  the  tribe.  The  complete  organisation  of  the  tribe 
then  was  :  a  group  of  families  forming  a  gens  or  clan,  two  gentes 
being  represented  in  each  family  ;  the  "  father  must  belong  to  one 
gens  and  the  mother  and  her  children  to  another,"  descent  being 
commonly  in  the  female  line,  and  marriage  within  a  gens  being 
forbidden  ;  a  group  of  gentes  formed  the  phratry,  and  a  group  of 
phratries  formed  the  tribe,  while  a  group  of  tribes  formed  the  con 
federacy,  probably  the  highest  form  of  government  the  Amer 
inds  reached.  The  phratry  as  an  organisation  was  often  absent, 
and  the  tribe  was  then  composed  of  the  gentes  without  any  further 
grouping.  Powell  seems  to  use  "phratry"  in  a  different  sense 
from  Morgan  and  some  other  writers.  Morgan  described  a 
phratry  as  a  group  of  gentes,  whereas  Powell  defines  it  as  simply 
a  brotherhood  or  society.  Each  gens  governed  itself  so  far  as  its 
internal  affairs  were  concerned  ;  that  is,  it  had  home  rule,  just  as 

1  First  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  59. 

2  See  Macnrillan's  Dictionary  of  Architecture. 


II 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


NORTH-WEST   COAST   BASKETRY    HATS 


Made  of  grass  and  spruce  roots 

A.  Parasol-shaped  hat  with  totemic  design  on  top  and  painted  in  solid  colour  on  remainder  of  outside  sur 

face.     Tlinkit 

B.  Has  wooden  appendages  representing  the  beak  of  the  raven.     Tlinkit 

C.  Cedar  bark  hat.     G  shows  method  of  plaiting  it 

E.  Top  view  of  D,  showing  totemic  design  of  hooyeh,  the  raven.     Haida 
H.  Is  method  of  weaving  the  top,  F  of  the  bottom  part  of  D 

See  also  figures  on  pp.  146,  160 

415 


416  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

we  have  it  to-day  in  our  towns,  counties,  etc.  It  sent  delegates 
to  the  council  of  the  tribe  to  represent  it,  and  it  elected  its  own 
officers.  There  was  sometimes  no  tribal  or  head  chief.  I  never 
could  learn  of  any  among  the  Navajos,  and  the  Iroquois  had  none. 
When,  as  was  frequent,  there  was  a  sachem,  or  tribal  chief,  he  was 
chosen  or  elected  by  the  chiefs  of  the  various  clans  or  gentes 
forming  the  council,  but  in  some  tribes  he  inherited  the  office,  or 
at  least  the  right  to  hold  it.  I  understood  this  to  be  the  case 
among  the  Kaivavits  Utes  of  southern  Utah.  A  gens  had  the 
right  to  take  into  its  ranks  any  alien  it  chose  to.  Such  a  person 
was  then  a  member  of  that  gens  and  partook  of  all  the  benefits  or 
disadvantages,  as  the  case  might  be.  He  was  a  son  or  brother  or 
husband,  or  the  corresponding  relationships  if  a  woman,  and  on  all 
occasions  was  treated  as  if  he  had  been  born  into  the  gens  or  clan 
instead  of  adopted  into  it.  He  was  therefore  eligible  for  all  offices 
in  the  tribe,  and  white  men  in  this  way  sometimes  became  chiefs. 
Beckwourth,1  who,  however,  was  really  supposed  by  a  Crow 
woman  to  be  her  long-lost  son,  became  head  chief  of  the  Crows, 
and  held  the  office  with  distinction  for  a  number  of  years.  He 
began  by  being  fifth  councillor.  ' '  In  the  Crow  nation  there  are 
six  councillors,  and  by  them  the  nation  is  ruled.  There  are  also 
two  head  chiefs,  who  sit  with  the  council  whenever  it  is  in  session. 
The  office  of  first  councillor  is  the  highest  in  the  nation  next  to 
the  head  chiefs,  whose  authority  is  equal.  If  in  any  of  these  divi 
sions,  when  a  matter  is  brought  to  the  vote,  the  suffrages  are 
equal,  one  of  the  old  pipemen  is  summoned  before  the  council  and 
the  subject  under  discussion  is  stated  to  him,  with  the  substance 
of  the  arguments  advanced  on  both  sides  ;  after  hearing  this  he 
gives  his  casting  vote,  and  the  question  is  finally  settled."  2 

George  Bancroft  says,  "  There  have  been  chiefs  who  could  not 
tell  when,  where,  or  how  they  obtained  power.  .  .  .  Opinion  could 
crowd  a  civil  chief  into  retirement,  and  could  dictate  his  succes 
sor."  Opinion  was  a  most  potent  factor  in  all  tribes,  and  this 
would  be  largely  directed  by  those  having  popularity  and  power. 
Officers,  in  fact  all  persons,  become  extremely  well  known  in  the 

1  Parkman  mentions  Beckwourth  in  the  Oregon   Trail,  p.   124,  as  ('  a 
mongrel  of  French,  American,  and  Indian  blood.     .     .     .     He  is  a  ruffian 
of  the  worst  stamp,  bloody  and  treacherous,  without  honour  or  honesty  "; 
but  other  writers  seem  to  give  him  a  better  character. 

2  Beckwourth,  Life  and  Adventures,  first  ed.,  pp.  227,  228. 


D 
U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


c 


F 


NORTH-WEST   COAST   MORTUARY    AND    COMMEMORATIVE    COLUMNS 

A.  Kaigani.     Contains  a  box  holding  ashes  of  the  dead 

B.  Kaigani.     Compartment  boarded  up  contains  the  remains  in  a  box 

C.  Kaigani.     Supported  box  contains  the  dead 

D.  Different  form  of  C 

E.  Haida.     Commemorative  column  put  in  front  of  the  house  of  deceased,  the  body  being  placed 

at  a  distance 

F.  Haida.     Commemorative  column  same  as  last  but  with  two  posts 


417 


4i 8  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

small  community  of  an  Amerind  tribe.  Every  peculiarity  of  tem 
perament  was  understood,  and  the  individual  was  respected  or 
despised  according  to  his  predominating  characteristics.  Those 
who  were  bold  and  fierce  and  full  of  strategy  were  made  war- 
chiefs,  while  those  who  possessed  judgment  and  decision  were 
made  civil  chiefs  or  governors.  In  many  tribes  the  civil  and  the 
military  branches  of  government  are  separate  and  distinct.  Cert 
ain  chieftains  were  the  peace  chiefs.  "They  could  neither  go  to 
war  themselves,  nor  send  nor  receive  the  war  belt  —  the  ominous 
string  of  dark  wampum,  which  indicated  that  the  tempest  of  strife 
was  to  be  let  loose.  Their  proper  badge  was  the  wampum  belt, 
with  a  diamond-shaped  figure  in  the  centre,  worked  in  white 
beads,  which  was  the  symbol  of  the  peaceful  council  fire,  and  was 
called  by  that  name.  War  was  declared  by  the  people  at  the  in 
stigation  of  the  'war-captains,'  valorous  braves,  of  any  birth  or 
family,  who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  personal  prowess, 
and  especially  by  good  success  in  forays  against  the  enemy.  Nor 
did  the  authority  of  the  chiefs  extend  to  any  infringement  on  the 
traditional  rights  of  the  gens,  as,  for  instance,  that  of  blood  re 
venge.  The  ignorance  of  this  limitation  of  the  central  power  led 
to  various  misunderstandings  at  the  time,  on  the  part  of  the 
colonial  authorities,  and  since  then,  by  later  historians.  Thus  in 
1728  the  Delaware  Indians  on  Brandy  wine  were  summoned  by 
the  Governor  to  answer  about  a  murder.  Their  chief,  Civility, 
answered  that  it  was  committed  by  the  Minisinks,  '  over  whom 
they  had  no  authority.'  This  did  not  mean  but  that  in  some 
matters  authority  could  be  exerted,  but  not  in  a  question  relating 
to  a  feud  of  blood."  '  War-chiefs  as  well  as  civil  chiefs  were 
elected  by  the  council,  and  could  be  deposed  also  by  the  council 
whenever  it  was  desirable. 

Brinton  says,  ' '  The  gentile  system  is  by  no  means  universal, 
.  .  .  where  it  exists,  it  is  often  traced  in  the  male  line  ;  both  prop 
erty  and  dignities  may  be  inherited  directly  from  the  father.  .  .  . 
In  fact,  no  one  element  of  the  system  was  uniformly  respected,  and 
it  is  an  error  of  theorists  to  make  it  appear  so.  It  varied  widely  in 
the  same  stock  and  in  all  its  expressions."  This  intricate  sub 
ject  cannot  be  fully  understood  till  the  organisation  of  many  tribes 
has  been  studied  in  detail.  ' '  In  some  tribes,  as  the  Dakota, 

1  Brinton,  The  Lenape,  p.  47. 

2  The  American  Race,  p.  46. 


Organisation  and  Government  419 

the  gentes  had  fallen  out ;  in  others  as  among  the  Ojibways,  the 
Omahas  and  the  Mayas  of  Yucatan  descent  had  been  changed 
from  the  female  to  the  male  line."  *  But  Powell  and  Morgan  both 
hold  that  the  majority  of  the  Amerind  tribes  were  organised  on 
the  basis  of  descent  in  the  female  line.  "The  gens  came  into 
being,"  says  Morgan,  "  upon  three  principal  conceptions,  namely  : 
the  bond  of  kin,  a  pure  lineage  through  descent  in  the  female  line, 
and  non-intermarriage  in  the  gens."  2 

Powell  in  his  article  on  the  ' '  North  American  Indians  ' '  in  John 
son's  Cyclopedia  seems  to  use  the  term  ' '  clan  ' '  to  describe  a  body  of 
kindred  with  descent  in  the  female  line,  and  ' '  gens  ' '  where  the  de 
scent  is  in  the  male  line.  "  In  most  of  the  tribes  the  fundamental 
unit  of  organisation  was  the  clan,"  he  says,  and  then  again,  "  a  few 
of  the  tribes  were  organised  on  the  gentile  plan  and  in  the  gens  kin 
ship  is  reckoned  in  the  male  line."  Such  a  distinction  would  be 
convenient,  but  Morgan  did  not  recognise  it  at  the  time  of  his 
writing,  as  is  evident  from  the  quotation  above  from  his  Ancient 
Society,  and  general  usage  seems  not  to  have  denned  gens  to  mean 
descent  in  either  line  specifically.  Nevertheless,  there  is  probably 
no  reason  why  the  distinction  should  not  be  made  with  regard  to 
the  Amerinds,  at  least,  if  it  should  be  agreed  upon.  Powell  also 
says  :  "  As  a  clan  is  a  group  of  people  who  reckon  kinship  through 
females  to  some  ancestral  female,  real  or  conventional,  so  a  gens  is 
a  group  of  people  who  reckon  kinship  through  males  to  some  an 
cestral  male,  real  or  conventional.  It  seems  that  the  primordial 
constitution  of  the  tribe  is  by  clanship  and  that  the  clanship  tribe 
is  developed  into  the  gentile  tribe.  Most  of  the  tribes  of  North 
America  have  clanship  organisation,  yet  there  is  a  goodly  number 
with  gentile  organisation,  while  perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  a 
majority  of  the  clanship  tribes  have  some  elements  of  the  gentile  or 
ganisation  ;  so  that  it  may  be  justly  affirmed  that  a  great  many  of 
the  tribes  on  this  continent  are  in  the  stage  of  transition,  and  there  is 
scarcely  a  gentile  tribe  which  has  not  some  feature  of  clanship  or 
ganisation  as  a  survival."  3  The  privileges  and  obligations  of  the 
gens  (or  clan)  were,  according  to  Morgan  as  follows  : 

"  I.  The  right  of  electing  its  sachem  or  chief. 

1  Morgan,  Houses  and  House  Life,  p.  8.     "In  the  ancient  gens  descent 
was  limited  to  the  female  Hue."     Ibid.,  p.  5. 

2  Ancient  Society,  p.  69. 

8  American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol  i.,  No.  4,  October,  1899,  p.  710. 


420  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

"  II.  The  right  of  deposing  its  sachem  or  chief. 

"  III.  The  obligation  not  to  marry  in  the  gens. 

"  IV.  Mutual  rights  of  inheritance  of  the  property  of  deceased 
members. 

"V.  Reciprocal  obligations  of  help,  defence,  and  redress  of  in 
juries. 

"VI.  The  right  of  bestowing  names  upon  its  members. 

"VII.  The  right  of  adopting  strangers  into  the  gens. 

"VIII.  Common  religious  rites. 

"  IX.  A  common  burial-place. 

"X.  A  council  of  the  gens."  ' 

Among  the  Wyandots  there  is  a  council  in  each  gens  composed 
of  four  women.  "  These  four  women  councillors  select  a  chief  of 
the  gens  from  its  male  members  —  that  is,  from  their  brothers  and 
sons.  This  gentile  chief  is  the  head  of  the  gentile  council.  The 
council  of  the  tribe  is  composed  of  the  aggregated  gentile  councils. 
The  tribal  council  then  is  composed  of  one-fifth  men  and  four-fifths 
women."  2  This  is  not  the  case  with  other  tribes,  however. 
Among  the  Tlinkits  it  is  the  richest  who  ' '  obtain  the  highest 
places,"  the  selection  of  the  chiefs  depending  entirely  on  the 
amount  of  property  they  have ;  that  is,  on  a  property  basis. 
These  Amerinds  have  a  better  appreciation  of  property  than  any 
others  I  have  ever  seen.  They  seldom  haggle,  but  in  selling  they 
state  a  price  and  adhere  to  it.  A  smaller  amount  offered  is  usually 
treated  with  scorn. 

The  sign  of  clan  or  gens  membership  was  the  totem,  all  mem 
bers  of  the  same  gens  having  the  same  totem,  and  his  or  tier  name 
usually  indicating  this  totem.  For  example,  if  we  know  an  Am 
erind  woman's  name  to  be  Spotted  Fawn,  we  place  her  at  once  in 
the  deer  clan.  The  deer  is  the  animal  that  she  looks  up  to  as  be 
ing  most  intimately  connected  with  her  past  and  her  future,  and 
from  which  her  ancestors  were  descended.  This  is  the  clan  or 
gens  totem.  As  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  there  are  also 
two  other  kinds  of  totems,  those  pertaining  to  sex  and  those  per 
taining  to  the  individual  alone.  Totems  are  always  chosen  from 
a  class  of  organic  objects,  while  a  fetich  may  be  anything  at  all. 
Thus  the  totems  are  deer,  frogs,  bears,  snakes,  corn,  etc.,  while 
a  fetich  may  be  a  pebble,  a  piece  of  glass  wrapped  in  a  bit 

1  Ancient  Society,  p.  71,  and  Houses  and  House-Life,  p.  7. 

2  Powell,  First  Ann.  Rept.  Bu.  Eth.,  p.  61. 


Organisation  and  Government  421 

of  buckskin  together  with  a  feather,  or  some  similar  object.  The 
fetich  was  a  talisman,  the  totem  a  beneficent  attending  spirit  and 
a  sign  of  family  and  origin. 

The  Iroquois  confederacy  was  planned  by  Hiawatha  through 
Daganoweda  as  an  interpreter  of  his  ideas  and  wishes.  Some, 
Horatio  Hale  for  one,  think  that  Hiawatha  was  a  real  person,  and 
others  that  it  was  Daganoweda  who  did  the  work  under  the  guise 
of  representing  Hiawatha.1  However  this  may  be,  the  organisa 
tion  of  the  several  tribes  into  the  confederacy  was  a  work  of 
genius,  and  this  was  one  of  the  highest  governments  that  was 
discovered  on  this  continent.  We  cannot  say,  however,  that  it 
was  the  highest  that  ever  existed,  next  to  that  of  the  Aztecs  or  the 
other  Central  Amerinds,  for  we  really  do  not  know  what  there 
may  have  been  before,  not  only  in  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
but  in  the  Mississippi  valley  or  even  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
As  noted  in  a  previous  chapter,  if  the  Iroquois  had  disappeared 
before  our  arrival,  we  could  have  gained  no  conception  of  their  re 
markable  government  from  any  remains  that  we  would  have 
found.  The  Mississippi  valley  and  the  South-west,  as  well  as 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  exhibit  traces  of  tribes  who  may 
easily  have  arrived  at  a  governmental  development  equal  to,  if, 
indeed,  not  superior  to,  that  of  the  Aztecs  or  the  Iroquois.  These 
tribes  were  undoubtedly  Amerind,  but  there  is  nothing  to  prove 
that  earlier  Amerind  tribes  were  inferior  in  their  political  develop 
ment  to  later  ones. 

The  misconceptions  of  the  Spaniards  due  to  ignorance  of  Am 
erind  organisation  gave  false  colouring  to  the  Aztec  confederacy  ; 
and  the  flowing  diction  of  Prescott,  gemmed  with  terms  and  titles 
applicable  to  Old- World  society,  but  having  no  place  in  that  of  the 
New,  added  to  the  confusion.  Pages  relating  to  "nobles," 
"princes,"  "royal  allies,"  "sovereigns,"  "lords,"  etc.,  do 
not  help  in  fathoming  the  intricacies  of  Amerind  government. 
Had  the  Spaniards  met  with  the  Iroquois  we  should  have  had 
something  similar  in  their  case;  and  the  fact  that  they  had  no 
head  chief  would  not  have  been  discovered  by  the  conquistadores, 
so  eager  for  other  prey.  One  of  the  war-chiefs  would  again  have 
been  taken  for  a  royal  personage,  and  the  sachems  and  councillors 
would  have  been  nobles  and  princes,  while  the  outlying  tribes  of 

1  Originally  Hdyowenthd  in  the  Mohawk.  He  and  Daganoweda  are 
usually  considered  mythical  personages. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

ANCIENT    PUEBLOAN    MOCCASINS    OF    FIBRE,    ARIZONA 

Except  lower  left  hand  one  worn  by  the  Ainos  of  Yezo,  Japan  Introduced  for  comparison  Th« 
Ainos  were  probably  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Japan.  In  language  and  character  they  an 
different  from  Japanese 

422 


Organisation  and  Government  423 

the  Five  Nations  would  have  filled  the  bill  for  royal  allies.  It  is 
likely  that  the  Aztec  government  was  in  advance  of  that  of  the  Ir- 
oquois,  but  that  there  was  any  royalty  about  it  must  be  doubted 
till  better  evidence  is  available.  On  the  other  hand,  Morgan's  at 
tempt  to  prove  that  the  Aztec  organisation  was  not  beyond  that 
of  the  Pueblos  or  the  Iroquois  is  to  be  taken  with  caution.  Brin- 
ton  says :  ' '  The  government  of  these  states  did  not  differ  in  princi 
ple  from  that  of  the  northern  tribes,  though  its  development  had 
reached  a  later  stage.  Descent  was  generally  reckoned  in  the 
male  line,  and  the  male  children  of  the  deceased  were  regarded  as 
the  natural  heirs  both  to  his  property  and  his  dignities.  Where 
the  latter,  however,  belonged  rather  to  the  gens  than  the  individ 
ual,  a  form  of  election  was  held,  the  children  of  the  deceased  being 
given  the  preference.  In  this  sense,  which  was  the  usual  limita 
tion  in  America,  many  positions  were  hereditary,  including  that 
of  the  chieftaincy  of  the  tribe  or  confederation.  The  Montezuma 
who  was  the  ruler  who  received  Cortez,  was  the  grandson  of  Ax- 
ayacatl,  who  in  turn  was  the  son  of  the  first  Montezuma,  each  of 
whom  exercised  the  chief  power."  '  The  daughter  of  the  first 
Montezuma  seems  to  have  occupied  the  position  of  head  chief 
for  a  time,  or,  as  Prescott  would  put  it,  she  was  queen.  It  is  pos 
sible  that  while  Montezuma  was  a  war-chief  he  may  have  com 
bined  certain  civil  powers  with  his  war  office,  and  that  the 
confederacy  was  actually  on  the  road  to  an  absolute  monarchy 2  or 
something  of  the  kind,  which,  if  human  progress  takes  always  the 
same  general  directions,  was  the  next  stage  to  be  expected  on  this 
soil.  Bandelier,  Morgan,  and  others  see  in  the  various  Mexican 
tribes  and  confederacies  little  that  is  different  from  the  organisa 
tion  of  the  Amerinds  to  the  northward,  and  probably  when  all  is 
well  understood  we  may  find  that  they  are  not  far  from  correct ; 
that,  while  there  are  differences,  they  are  yet  not  sufficient  to  en 
title  the  Mexicans  to  the  separation  from  other  Amerinds  that  has 
been  claimed  for  them  by  romantic  writers.  Speaking  of  Tlax- 
cala,  the  famous  "province"  where  Cortes  found  a  resting-place 
on  his  inward  journey,  Bandelier  says  :  "  Owing  to  a  misconcep 
tion  of  aboriginal  institutions,  it  has  been  palmed  off  as  a  kind  of 
Mexican  Switzerland,  as  a  free  republic  in  the  midst  of  despoti 
cally  ruled  communities.  Such  was  not  the  case.  There  was  not 

1  The  American  Race,  p.  130. 

2  Payne,  as  before  noted,  says  "  a  military  despotism." 


424  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

ttie  slightest  fundamental  difference  between  the  social  organisa 
tion  and  mode  of  government  of  the  Tlaxcaltecos  and  that  of  the 
Mexican  tribe ;  but  the  exceptional  geographical  position  of  the 
latter  and  the  natural  barrenness  of  their  land  led  them  to 
seek  means  of  subsistence  from  abroad.  The  confederacy  of  tribes 
grew  out  of  tribal  organisation,  and  the  greater  ability  of  the  in 
habitants  of  the  Central  Valley  gave  to  their  confederacy  a  power 
of  aggression  superior  to  that  of  any  other  aboriginal  cluster  in  the 
same  country.  .  .  .  The  Tlaxcaltecos  were  organised  in  four  lo 
calised  phratries,  like  the  Mexicans.  Two  elective  chiefs — that  is, 
elective  in  regard  to  the  individual,  but  with  heredity  of  office  in 
a  certain  gens — formed  the  nominal  head  of  the  tribe.  The  true 
directive  power,  however,  lay  in  the  council  of  the  tribe.  The 
tribe  of  Mexico  had  a  similar  organisation.  What  created  an  ap 
parent  dissimilarity  was  the  confederacy  of  the  valley  tribes,  with 
its  chief-captain  always  taken  from  the  Mexicans.  As,  in  the 
single  tribe,  the  war-chief  office  was  hereditary  in  the  gens,  so,  in 
the  confederacy,  the  same  office  becomes  hereditary  in  the  tribe"  1 
How  different  is  the  wording  of  Prescott  when  speaking  of  the 
Aztec  organisation  !  "The  government  was  an  elective  monarchy. 
Four  of  the  principal  nobles,  who  had  been  chosen  by  their  own 
bod}'-  in  the  preceding  reign,  filled  the  office  of  electors,  to  whom 
were  added,  with  merely  honourary  rank,  however,  the  two  royal 
allies  of  Tezcuco  and  Tlacopan.  The  sovereign  was  selected  from 
the  brothers  of  the  deceased  prince,  or,  in  default  of  them,  from 
his  nephews.  Thus  the  election  was  always  restricted  to  the  same 
family.  The  candidate  preferred  must  have  distinguished  him 
self  in  war,  though,  as  in  the  case  of  the  last  Montezuma."  2  In 
other  words,  the  election  was  restricted  to  a  certain  gens.  Morgan 
says  :  "  Nearly  all  American  Indian  tribes  had  two  grades  of 
chiefs,  who  may  be  distinguished  as  sachems  and  common  chiefs. 
Of  these  two  primary  grades  all  other  grades  were  varieties. 
They  were  elected  in  each  gens  from  among  its  members.  A  son 
could  not  be  chosen  to  succeed  his  father  when  descent  was  in  the 
female  line,  because  he  belonged  to  a  different  gens,  and  no  gens 
would  have  a  chief  or  sachem  from  any  gens  but  its  own."  (Mor 
gan  here  evidently  forgot  the  right  of  adoption.  It  would  be 
perfectly  regular,  should  a  gens  wish  to  do  so,  to  adopt  a  son  into 

1  Archaologiail  Tour,  p.  31,  and  footnote,  p.  31. 
•  Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  23. 


Organisation  and  Government  425 

the  gens  in  order  that  he  might  succeed  his  father.)  "The  office 
of  sachem  was  hereditary  in  the  gens,  in  the  sense  that  it  was 
filled  as  often  as  a  vacancy  occurred  ;  while  the  office  of  chief  was 
non-hereditary,  because  it  was  bestowed  in  reward  of  personal 
merit,  and  died  with  the  individual.  Moreover,  the  duties  of  a 
sachem  were  confined  to  the  affairs  of  peace.  He  could  not  go  out 
to  war  as  a  sachem.  On  the  other  hand,  the  chiefs  who  were 
raised  to  office  for  personal  bravery,  for  wisdom  of  affairs,  or  for 
eloquence  in  council,  were  usually  the  superior  class  in  ability, 
though  not  in  authority  over  the  gens.  The  relation  of  the  sachem 
was  primarily  to  the  gens,  of  which  he  was  the  official  head,  while 
that  of  the  chief  was  primarily  to  the  tribe,  of  the  council  of  which 
he,  as  well  as  the  sachem,  were  members."  1 

As  the  Iroquois  league  was  such  an  important  affair,  and  as 
it  was  so  thoroughly  studied  by  Morgan,  I  will  quote  him  further 
by  giving  his  statement  of  the  main  points  in  the  organisation. 

"  I.  The  Confederacy  was  a  union  of  Five  Tribes  (afterwards 
Six),  composed  of  common  gentes  under  one  government  on  the 
basis  of  equality,  each  Tribe  remaining  independent  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  local  self-government. 

"  II.  It  created  a  General  Council  of  Sachems,  who  were  lim 
ited  in  number,  equal  in  rank  and  authority,  and  invested  with 
supreme  powers  over  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  Confederacy. 

"  III.  Fifty  Sachemships  were  created  and  named  in  perpetuity 
in  certain  gentes  of  the  several  Tribes;  with  power  in  these  gentes 
to  fill  vacancies  as  often  as  they  occurred,  by  election  from  among 
their  respective  members,  and  with  the  further  power  to  depose 
from  office  for  cause  ;  but  the  right  to  invest  these  Sachems  with 
office  was  reserved  to  the  General  Council. 

' '  IV.  The  Sachems  of  the  Confederacy  were  also  Sachems  in 
their  respective  Tribes,  and  with  the  Chiefs  of  these  Tribes  formed 
the  Council  of  each,  which  was  supreme  over  all  matters  pertain 
ing  to  the  Tribe  exclusively. 

"V.  Unanimity  in  the  Council  of  the  Confederacy  was  made 
essential  to  every  public  act. 

"VI.  In  the  General  Council  the  Sachems  voted  by  Tribes, 
which  gave  to  each  Tribe  a  negative  upon  the  others. 

"  VII.  The  Council  of  each  Tribe  had  power  to  convene  the 
General  Council;  but  the  latter  had  no  power  to  convene  itself. 
1  Ancient  Society,  pp.  71,  72. 


• 

,j 


m  : 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

CHIMMESYAN    HEAD-DRESS    REPRESENTING   THE   WHITE   OWL 

It  is  made  of  maple  ;  eyes,  tongue,  eye-ornament  on  wings,  and  ornament  at  base  of  the  wing- 
feathers  inlaid  in  Haliotis  shell.  Wings  and  eyebrows  of  owl,  and  eyebrows,  eyes,  and  noses 
of  the  surrounding  men  painted  black  ;  margin  of  beak  and  body  of  the  owl  except  talons  and 
knees,  mouths,  arms,  and  legs  of  the  surrounding  men  and  the  broad  band  surrounding  the 
owl's  body,  painted  red.  6%  in.  wide,  7^  in.  high.  In  the  American  Museum 


426 


Organisation  and  Government  427 

"VIII.  The  General  Council  was  open  to  the  orators  of  the 
people  for  the  discussion  of  public  questions ;  but  the  Council  alone 
decided. 

"IX.  The  Confederacy  had  no  Chief  Executive  Magistrate  or 
official  head. 

"  X.  Experiencing  the  necessity  for  a  General  Military  Com 
mander,  they  created  the  office  in  a  dual  form,  that  one  might 
neutralise  the  other.  The  two  principal  War-chiefs  created  were 
made  equal  in  powers. ' '  ' 

Such  was  the  remarkable  construction  of  the  government  of 
these  Amerind  people  of  New  York.  In  its  conception,  in  its  de 
tails,  and  in  its  execution  it  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
primitive  governments  ever  recorded.  From  a  comparatively 
weak  people  it  placed  the  Iroquois,  though  they  were  far  inferior 
in  numbers  to  surrounding  tribes,  in  a  commanding  position,  and 
enabled  them  to  extend  their  sway  over  a  vast  territory.  They 
made  no  attempt  to  hold  the  region  that  was  subject  to  their  de 
vastation,  but  probably,  had  not  the  European  appeared  on  the 
scene,  they  would  have  gradually  expanded  until  their  villages 
covered  many  times  the  area  which  they  specifically  claimed  when 
our  people  first  came.  An  increase  of  population  which  would  have 
overtaxed  the  game-supply  would  have  pushed  the  development 
of  their  agriculture  and  forced  the  confederacy  to  move  along 
higher  and  broader  lines.  One  great  drawback  to  Amerindian 
progress,  internecine  wars,  was  entirely  obliterated  by  the  masterly 
organisation  of  the  Iroquois  league^  while  at  the  same  time  they 
gained  by  their  union  a  strength  for  offence  and  defence  that,  to 
gether  with  their  fertile  and  well-watered  domain,  rendered  their 
organisation  impregnable.  This  and  the  Mexican  confederacy 
prove  that  the  Amerind  was  capable  of  great  things  in  govern 
mental  organisation.  It  only  remained  for  him  to  discover  the 
secrets  of  smelting  and  forging,  and  he  was  apparently  on  the 
brink  of  these  discoveries,  to  step  into  a  foremost  place  of  develop 
ment  and  progress.  In  some  respects  it  is  a  pity  the  Europeans  did 
not  remain  in  ignorance  of  this  continent  for  another  five  hundred 
years. 

1  Houses  and  House- Life^  p.  28. 


WOODEN  "SEAL"  DISH,  HAIDA 
CHAPTER  XVI 

ORIGIN,    MIGRATIONS,    AND   HISTORY  * 

THE  manner  in  which  America  was  originally  peopled  has 
been  the  cause  of  considerable  speculation.  For  a  long 
time  it  was  generally  believed,  and  there  are  some  who 
still  hold  that  belief,  that  this  peopling  occurred  within  compara 
tively  recent  times  by  way  of  Bering  Strait,  and  that  before  that 
the  continent  was  not  inhabited.  But  peoples  do  not  willingly 
migrate  into  frozen  regions,  and  the  Bering  Strait  and  Alaska 
down  to  Dixon  Entrance  were  not  many  centuries  ago  buried  un 
der  a  mantle  of  ice.  I  doubt  if  there  were  even  Eskimo  in  Alaska 
five  hundred  years  back.  It  is  my  belief  that  all  the  tribes  of  the 
North-west  migrated  there  from  the  South  and  South-east,  and  not 
within  recent  geologic  time  from  the  Asiatic  direction. 

That  the  continent  was  entirely  peopled  by  way  of  Bering  Strait 
within  the  last  thousand- years,  by  migrations  through  a  zone  of  ice, 
is  improbable.  To  assume  that  a  population  came  over  and  passed 
down  to  Mexico  and  Yucatan  and  even  South  America,  carry 
ing  with  them  their  arts,  but  not  exercising  them  Oil  this  inter 
minable  journey,  is  ridiculous.  No  pottery  has  yet  been  found 
between  the  Yukon  and  the  Humboldt,  or  even  farther  south, 
probably  because  the  Eskimo  learned  what  little  they  knew  about 
it  while  in  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  or  the  Atlantic  region,  and  the 
tribes  of  the  North-west  coast  never  came  into  sufficiently  close  con 
tact  with  potters  to  learn  the  art.2  Furthermore,  no  authentic  trace 

'See  the  Preface  of  this  book,  and  also  Payne's  History  of  the  New 
World,  vol.  ii.,  which,  unfortunately,  the  author  did  not  have  the  benefit  of 
seeing  till  after  this  book  was  written. 

2  In  this  connection  see  "  Archaeology  of  the  Thompson  River  Region, 
British  Columbia,"  by  Harlan  I.  Smith,  Memoirs  of  the  American  Museum, 
vol.  ii.,  May,  1900.  The  Eskimo  probably  entered  Alaska  along  the  coast 
from  the  east. 

428 


Origin,   Migrations,  and  History 


429 


of  any  Old- World  language  thus  far  has  been  found  on  this  conti 
nent,  and  the  only  Asiatic  language  now  known  to  be  allied  to  an 
American  is  that  of  a  branch  of  the  Eskimo  family  which  crossed 
from  this  side  within  the  last  three  hundred  years.  The  Amerind 
languages  change  slowly.  An  immense  period  must  have  elapsed 
since  their  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  is  said  that  two 
Japanese  vessels  a  year  are  wrecked  on  our  California  coast,  and 
some  have  peopled  the  continent  from  this  source  ;  a  more  absurd 
theory  than  the  other.  The  number  of  Japanese  vessels  that  were 
afloat  a  thousand  years  ago  was  as  nothing  compared  with  those 
afloat  to-day,  and  if  only  two  per  annum  are  wrecked  on  these  shores 
to-day,  the  wrecks  a  thousand  years  ago  did  not  add  materially  to 
the  population.1  It  is  possible,  however,  that  a  few  persons  may 
have  reached  either  seaboard  that  way,  and  like  Cabeza  de  Vaca, 
they  may  have  wandered  for  years  among  the  various  tribes  as 
teachers  and  medicine-men,  giving  rise  to  legends  of  "  white  and 
bearded  strangers."  But  in  the  early  days  vessels  were  frail  and 
did  not  venture  far 
from  the  coast,  so 
that  the  chances  of 
being  driven  to 
American  shores 
without  foundering 
were  very  slight. 
The  Northmen 
made  the  voyage, 
however,  and  others 
may  have  done 
it.  Yet  the  sup 
posed  visits  of  the 
Irish  and  Danes 
are  hardly  worthy 
of  serious  consider 
ation,  although  it  would  be  rash  to  deny  the  possibility  of  their 
having  come.  As  for  the  Lost-Tribes-of-Israel  theory,  on  which 
Kingsborough  was  wrecked,  no  archaeologist  of  to-day  would  be 
willing  to  give  it  a  second  thought.  A  multitude  of  stock  languages, 
differing  from  each  other,  yet  forming  a  world-group  by  themselves, 

1  It  is  of  course  possible  that  some  infusion  of  blood  occurred  in  this 
manner,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  it  was  ever  sufficient  to  tinge  a  whole  stock. 


From  photograph  by  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  1899 
TLINKIT    SUMMER    CAMP 


43O  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

are  found  here.  The  people  who  speak  them,  from  Panama  to  the 
Arctic,  are  in  their  habits,  customs,  and  physical  characteristics 
wonderfully  homogeneous,1  yet  they  appear  to  exhibit  several 
types  that  have  been  moulded  into  a  family  resemblance  by  some 
strange  circumstance.  Toward  Panama,  some  of  them  attained  a 
considerable  degree  of  progress,  but  these  were  not  of  one  special 
stock  but  of  diverse  stocks.  Farther  north  there  was  another 
group  attaining  to  a  less  but  a  similar  kind  of  progress,  and  they 
also  were,  and  are,  of  diverse  stocks.  In  the  Mississippi  valley 
are  evidences  of  another  similar  culture  group,  probably  also  of 
diverse  stocks  because  some  of  them  were  allied  to,  or  were  part  of, 
the  stocks  found  there  when  the  whites  came.  The  same  general 
conditions  prevailed  farther  east,  and  a  centre  of  development  was 
rapidly  forming  in  New  York  when  it  was  destroyed  by  our  com 
ing.  One  of  the  most  widespread  stocks,  the  Shoshonean  or  Uto- 
Aztecan,  is  composite,  containing  within  it  tribes  of  the  highest 
culture  and  tribes  of  the  least  culture,  tribes  that  were  peaceful 
and  tribes  that  were  warlike.  It  is  evident  then  that  culture  was 
no  evidence  of  relationship  or  the  reverse  among  the  Amerind  peo 
ple.  By  some  powerful  influence  and  long  association  they  had, 
whatever  their  origin,  been  moulded  into  one  race.  "  Where  had 
they  come  from  ?  "  "  How  did  they  come  to  be  so  much  alike  ?  " 
"Why  did  their  highest  development  take  place  down  by  the 
Isthmus  instead  of  by  the  Great  Lakes  or  in  the  fertile  valley  of 
the  Mississippi  ?  ' '  These  are  pertinent  questions.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  answer  them  by  importing  different  people  from  dif 
ferent  parts  of  the  world  and  their  recent  culture  with  them.  But  the 
more  the  Amerinds  are  studied,  the  more  homogeneous  do  we  find 
them  and  the  more  isolated  from  Old- World  influences.  Culture,  as 
mentioned,  was  not  confined  to  one  stock  ;  it  permeated  through 
unrelated  stocks.  The  languages  too  are  totally  different  from  all 
others.  Thus  the  more  the  matter  is  investigated,  the  more 
closely  are  we  confined  to  the  Western  Hemisphere  for  the  origin 
of  the  Amerind  people,  as  we  know  them.  Toward  Panama,  that 
is  fcelow  the  City  of  Mexico,  a  kind  of  civilisation  was  attained, 
and  there  we  find  was  the  densest  population  on  the  continent. 

1  "This  uniformity  finds  oneof  its  explanations  in  the  geographical  features 
of  the  continent,  which  are  such  as  to  favour  migrations  in  longitude,  and 
thus  prevent  the  diversity  which  special  conditions  of  latitude  tend  to  pro 
duce." — Brinton,  American  Race,  p.  41. 


Origin,   Migrations,  and  History  431 

Culture  never  develops  in  a  game  country  with  a  sparse  popula 
tion,  and  there  is,  therefore,  an  intimate  connection  between  a 
crowded  population  and  "culture"  or  "civilisation."  It  may  be 
broadly  asserted,  I  think,  that  civilisation  is  crowding  ;  it  is  man's 
effort  at  self-preservation.  Where  the  game-supply  is  exhausted 
or  insufficient  and  subsistence  must  be  wholly  or  largely  wrested 


From  photograph  by  the  Harriman  Expedition,  1899 

ESKIMO    SUMMER    CAMP,    PORT    CLARENCE 

from  the  soil,  there  will  be  found  the  culture  centres,  the  hot 
houses  of  art  and  science,  from  which  a  filtration  occurs  into  all 
the  contiguous  regions  and  peoples.  On  this  continent  the  chief 
centre  of  culture  was  the  narrowest  part ;  the  population  was 
packed  there  as  in  the  narrow  end  of  a  funnel,  leaving  the  whole 
broad  top  thinly  peopled.  The  question  immediately  arises : 
"Why  was  this  so?"  It  is  evident  at  a  glance  that  there  was 
some  preponderating,  irresistible  influence  which  compelled  the 
inhabitants  to  draw  into  these  narrow,  restricted  regions,  there  to 
act  and  react  one  tribe  on  another,  and  this  influence  was  con 
stantly  at  work  moulding  them  all.  If  the  continent  had  been 
peopled  within  any  comparatively  recent  time,  it  is  not  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  tribes  would  willingly  have  huddled  together 
far  down  in  the  most  limited  area.  It  is  also  from  this  area  ap 
parently  that  all  the  arts  have  spread.  The  crowding  and  the 
culture  development  were  coincident.  What  was  the  cause  of  it  ? 
If  we  can  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  understanding  of  the  cause,  it 
seems  to  me  that  we  have  the  solution  of  the  whole  matter.  The 


432  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

explanation  appears  to  be  that  the  continent  was  peopled  before  the 
beginning  of  the  glacial  epoch,  and  the  crowding  into  the  narrow 
regions,  and  consequently  the  development  of  culture  there,  were 
due  to  the  encroachment  from  the  north  of  the  great  cold.  Wright 
says:  "Just  before  the  beginning  of  the  ice  age,  a  temperate 
climate  corresponding  to  latitude  35  on  the  Atlantic  coast  ex 
tended  far  up  toward  the  north  pole,  permitting  Greenland  and 
Spitzbergen  to  be  covered  with  trees  and  plants  similar  in  most 
respects  to  those  found  at  the  present  time  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  Here7  indeed  in  close  proximity  to  the  north  pole  were 
then  residing,  in  harmony  and  contentment,  the  ancestors  of 
nearly  all  the  plants  and  animals  which  are  now  found  in  the 
north  temperate  zone."  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose,  then, 
that  man  was  also  here,  though  as  yet  the  scientific  evidence  is 
perhaps  not  sufficient  to  prove  it.  If  he  circled  the  globe  in  the 
Northern  regions  at  that  time,  and  was  also  occupying  Central 
portions,  the  cold  drove  all  south  and  together  with  changes 
of  land  levels  cut  off  the  American  division  from  the  other  world.1 
Migration  legends  are  useless  in  determining  the  origin  of  the 
Amerinds,  for  they  can  only  relate  to  the  comparatively  recent 
changes  of  location  before  which,  for  a  long  period,  the  people 
drifted  up  and  down  and  across  the  continent  under  the  influences 
I  have  suggested.  However  man  first  originated,  or  where,  he  was 
doubtless  distributed,  like  the  flora  and  fauna,  at  some  exceedingly 
remote  period,  over  the  whole  world,  by  causes  not  now  understood, 
but  one  of  which  was  probably  a  greater  continuity  of  land  surfaces 
than  exists  to-day.2  Some  of  the  earlier-world  people  were  pos 
sibly  more  advanced  than  we  have  been  willing  to  concede,  and 
there  was,  from  a  very  early  day,  a  differentiation  of  tribes.  Some 
were  making  respectable  weapons  and  tools  of  stone  while  others 
were  using  clubs.  Too  much  stress  has  been  placed  upon  the  Eu 
ropean  classification  of  stone  implements.  It  may  exhibit  condi 
tions  that  existed  in  Europe,  but  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  a 
standard  of  measurement  for  the  world.  When  Moses  was  leading 
his  enlightened  people,  the  European  was  a  painted  savage.  The 

'See  also  "  On  the  Peopling  of  America,"  by  August  R.  Grote,  Bulletin 
Buffalo  Society  of  Natural  Sciences,  February  2,  1877. 

2  The  tinge  of  resemblance  between  certain  Amerind  stocks  and  foreign 
stocks  endures  from  the  pre-glacial  period,  then,  when  intercourse  was  on 
different  lines,  and  does  not  indicate  any  latter-day  relationship. 


Origin,   Migrations,   and   History  433 

period  of  time  in  which  man  used  stone  implements  is  enormous  ; 
that  in  which  he  has  used  metal  tools,  comparatively  insignificant. 
It  stands  to  reason,  therefore,  that  during  this  long  use  of  stone, 
tribes  attained  to  varying  degrees  of  culture,  and  varying  degrees 
of  perfection  in  stone  tools.  There  never  could  have  been  a  single 
period  of  time  when  all  tribes  the  world  round  made  a  certain  qual 
ity  of  implements,  then  another  period  when  they  all  made  other 
quality  of  implements.  Classification  of  tribes  and  races  in  a  time- 
scale,  or  even  in  a  culture  scale,  according  to  the  kind  of  stone  im 
plements  they  used,  is  impossible.  The  Pai  Ute  and  the  Iroquois 
made  equally  good  tools  in  the  seventeenth  century,  while  in  other 
lands  still  inferior  tribes  were  making  implements  about  as  good, 
and  others  were  struggling  on  with  poorer  ones.  At  the  time  of 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

WOODEN   SNOW    GOGGLES    OF   THE   CENTRAL   ESKIMO 

the  Aztec  confederacy,  their  stone  tools  were  not  greatly  superior 
to  those  of  the  Pai  Ute.  Therefore,  it  would  seem  that  any  re 
semblance  between  so-called  American  "paleolithic"  implements 
and  modern  stone  implements  cannot  be  used  as  an  argument  to 
disprove  the  age  of  the  former,  nor  that  a  polished  stone  imple- 


434  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

nient  found  in  a  supposed  ancient  gravel  is  necessarily  an  indica 
tion  of  intrusion  or  that  the  gravel  is  not  ancient.  The  imple 
ments  thus  far  found  in  the  California  auriferous  gravels  have 
been  similar  to  those  found  on  the  surface  to-day,  and  this  has 
been  held  by  some  to  be  a  suspicious  circumstance.  It  is  not. 
Some  tribes  in  California  in  those  remote  times  were  probably 
making  stone  implements  quite  as  good  as  anything  inade  to-day. 
Stone-working  is  not  capable  of  high  development.  The  range  is 
limited.  Some  tribes  compassed  it  early.  Because  also  we  do 
not  find  stone  implements  abundant  in  the  North- American 
glacial  drift  proves  nothing  concerning  man's  condition,  presence 
or  absence  on  the  continent  at  that  time.  The  population  'was 
almost  entirely  below  the  glacial  limit,  only  a  few  inferior  tribes 
skirting  its  southern  fringe.  We  should,  then,  expect  to  find  few 
northerly  pre-glacial  evidences,1  as  the  main  culture  development 
took  place  south  of  the  ice  line,  and  tribes  above  this  in  pre-glacial 
times  would  be  the  most  primitive. 

The  material  evidences  concerning  the  antiquity  of  man  in 
America  are  many,  but  few  are  entirely  satisfactory.  The  Cal- 
averas  skull  and  other  remains  in  the  auriferous  California  grav 
els  seem  to  place  him  here  as  early  as  the  Tertiary,  and  this,  says 
Holmes,2  would  make  man  older  on  this  continent  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  world  according  to  present  evidence.  A  rudely 
chipped  arrow-head  has  also  been  found  in  another  region  under 
some  elephant  bones.  A  primitive  hearth  was  discovered  in  well 
digging  in  an  old  beach  of  Lake  Ontario  which  dates  back  to  the 
glacial  time.  Many  specimens  of  stone  implements  have  been 
found  throughout  the  land  in  deposits  which  appear  to  be  of  great 
age.  There  is  always  the  question  of  modern  introduction 
through  burials,  overturned  trees,  etc.,  but  the  number  and  vary 
ing  positions  seem  to  indicate  that  some  of  these  tools  have  been 
found  in  their  original  places.  I  excavated  a  mound  in  southern 
Utah  from  the  depths  of  which  I  brought  out  an  exceedingly 
primitive  grinding-stone,  yet  not  a  single  stone  implement  of  any 

1  These  tools  might  easily  be  quite  as  good  as  many  found  on  the  surface 
to-day,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  at  least  the  ruder 
forms  of  modern  implements. 

8W.  H.  Holmes,  "  Preliminary  Revision  of  the  Evidence  Relating  to 
Auriferous  Gravel  Man  in  California,"  American  Anthropologist,  October, 
1899. 


Origin,    Migrations,  and   History  435 

other  kind  was  found.  The  grinding-stone  was  twenty  feet  below 
the  top  of  the  mound  and  ten  below  the  present  general  level 
of  the  surface.  The  mound  was  formed  of  many  layers  of  earth 
interspersed  with  thin  layers  of  charcoal  and  ashes.  All  around 
the  site  there  were  house  ruins  on  the  surface,  but  in  the  mound 
not  a  trace  of  a  building  stone  was  seen.  I  was  told  that  in  dig 
ging  a  well  not  far  from  this  locality  a  small  earthen  jug  of  an 
tique  type  was  found  about  thirty  feet  below  the  present  level.  I 
did  not  see  it  nor  even  the  man  who  found  it,  but  the  great 
abundance  of  such  finds  must  indicate  antiquity,  for  they  could 
not  all  be  fraudulent,  nor  all  recent  intrusions. 

The  cause  of  the  glacial  period  has  been  much  discussed.  It 
seems  to  have  been  largely  due  to  changes  in  land  levels,1  and 
to  other  causes  not  now  understood.  The  people  inhabiting  the 
world  before  it  may  have  been  originally  much  alike  in  kind  and 
colour  with  local  variations,  and  the  isolation  produced  by  glacial 
conditions  modified  this  colour  and  increased  the  variations,  those 
finally  left  in  hot  lands  becoming  darker,  medium  temperatures 
producing  brown,  still  cooler  the  reds  and  yellows,  and  the  forests 
of  Kurope  evolving  a  shade  or  shadow  people,  shrinking  from  the 
strong  sun  ;  the  so-called  white  race.  The  glacial  epoch  is  often 
spoken  of  as  if  the  whole  world  were  frozen  solid,  whereas  in  North 
America,  from  the  Ohio  and  the  Columbia  to  the  Isthmus,  the  cli 
mate  was  doubtless  about  relatively  the  same  as  it  is  now  from 
Davis  Strait  to  the  Potomac  and  from  Yakutat  Bay  to  northern 
California.  The  ice  extended  down  about  to  the  Ohio  River  in  the 
Bast  and  on  lowlands  not  below  the  Columbia  in  the  West.  The 
Western  mountain  tops  must  have  been  completely  glaciated  and 
all  elevated  regions  were  cold,  the  conditions  prevailing  resembling 
those  now  found  in  Southern  Alaska.  The  Sierra  Nevadas,  re 
ceiving  the  warm,  moist  airs  from  the  Pacific,  must  have  been  far 
more  heavily  glaciated  than  the  Rockies,  which  received  less 
moisture  in  consequence.  The  ice  period  is  estimated  to  have 
endured  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand  years,  with  an  interval  of 
recession  in  it  and  subsequent  advance.  The  people  were  driven 
southward,  and  those  most  favourably  situated  developed  the 
most.  The  people  most  favourably  situated  were  all  who  were 

1  An  elevation  of  the  ocean  bottom  in  the  Atlantic  tropical  regions 
would  probably  disturb  the  existing  climate  of  the  North  Atlantic  regions 
by  deflecting  the  warm  currents. 


436 


Origin,   Migrations,  and   History 


437 


already  in,  or  could  fight  their  way  to,  the  temperate  lowlands  of 
southern  Mexico  and  Central  America,  which  were  rendered  some 
what  more  extensive  by  the  recession  of  the  sea,  caused  by 
the  withdrawal  of  the  immense  quantities  of  water  that  were 
heaped  up  in  ice  thousands  of  feet  in  thickness.1  This  has  been 
estimated  to  have  lowered  the  waters  of  the  ocean  by  from  600  to 
1000  feet.2  The  lands  thus  laid  bare  were  climatically  inviting 
and  probably  were  soon  covered  with  vegetation.  In  South 
America  the  people  were  crowded  northward,  or  held  there  by  the 
cold  coming  from  the  south.  It  would  be  in  the  northern  portions, 
particularly  the  lowlands,  that  we  ought  to  find  evidence  of  the 
highest  devel 
opment,  espec 
ially  on  the  side 
receiving  warm 
currents,  and 
there  is  where 
we  do  find  it. 
We  apparently 
have  then  a 
northern  and  a 
southern  limit 
to  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of 
this  h  e  m  i  - 
sphere,  within 
which  climatic 
conditions  dur 
ing  the  period 
of  great  cold, 
and  for  some 
time  thereafter, 

were  most  favourable  to  human  development.  This  limit  in  the 
Northern  continent  is  latitude  23  and  in  the  Southern  also  23. 
Within  these  lines  the  great  precolumbian  development  took  place, 

1  See  A  Naturalist  in  Nicaragua,  by  Thomas  Belt,  Chap.  XIV. 

2  Payne  believes  that  by  this  lowering  of  the  waters  combined  with  land 
elevation,  a  Miocene  land  passage  was  formed  leading  from  Asia  to  the 
North-west  coast  and  that  the  American  continent  was  then  peopled  by  this 
route. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

NECKLACE  OF  DRIED  HUMAN  FINGERS  OBTAINED  ON  BATTLE 
FIELD  OF  WOUNDED-KNEE  BY  CAPTAIN  BOURKE 


o 

cr 

LLl 


CO 
LU 


438 


Origin,   Migrations,  and   History  439 

and  the  heart  of  this  development  on  the  Northern  continent 
seems  to  have  rested  between  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  and  the 
present  upper  frontier  of  Honduras,  chiefly  on  the  lowlands,  and 
probably  also  on  lands  now  beneath  the  ocean. 

In  North  America,  south  of  latitude  23,  then,  most  of  the  tribes 
of  the  continent  were  crowded  by  the  great  cold,  and  here  they 
developed  their  chief  characteristics,  so  that  by  the  time  the  ice 
began  its  last  recession  they  had  become  a  homogeneous. people, 
with  the  greatest  advancement  and  the  greatest  similarities  in  the 
region  where  the  population  had  been  densest,  with  a  diminishing 
scale  outward,  those  tribes  farthest  from  the  culture  centre  varying 
most  from  the  highest  culture  attained.  The  tribe  on  the  extreme 
edge  was,  and  is  now,  represented  by  the  Eskimo.1  The  develop 
ment  and  the  distribution  of  the  arts  were  in  the  same  order,  and 
here  apparently  is  the  explanation  of  the  superior  excellence  of 
Central-American  arts,  and  the  seeming  derivation  of  all  the  arts 
on  the  continent  from  this  centre.  Finally  the  recession  of  the  ice 
caused  renewed  trouble.  The  melting  of  it  and  the  return 
thereby  of  the  locked-up  waters  to  the  ocean  caused  a  submergence 
of  lowlands  that  had  been  made  habitable  by  their  withdrawal. 
There  were  floods  and  floods.  Tribes  were  overwhelmed  or  were 
driven  to  higher  ground.  There  was  a  renewed  shifting  of  popu 
lations  over  the  whole  continent.  Those  which  had  been  held 
back  toward  the  highlands  and  toward  the  ice,  accustomed  to  the 
cool  airs  and  to  a  particular  food,  readily  followed  the  retrogression 
of  the  ice,  impelled  always  by  pressure  of  the  tribes  farther  south. 
They  were  inured  to  cold.  The  most  southerly  tribes  became 
inured  somewhat  to  heat,  and  clung  to  their  lands,  impelled  also 
to  do  this  by  the  pressure  of  wilder  tribes  recoiling  from  contact 
with  still  other  tribes.  But  heat  being  debilitating,  and  especially 
so  to  the  Amerind  constitution,  the  Yucatec  peoples,  who  were  those 
who  had  attained  the  highest  development,  gradually  degenerated 
under  its  influence,  and  before  the  voyage  of  Columbus  whole 
cities  were  depopulated.  Some  held  their  own  for  a  longer  period, 
but  were  already  on  the  way  to  decline  when  the  Spaniards  ap 
peared.  In  some  cases  their  towns  were  occupied  by  an  inferior 
tribe  of  perhaps  the  same  stock,  or  an  inferior  tribe  dwelt  around 

1  See  also,  "Man  and  the  Glacial  Period  in  America,"  Payne's  History 
of  the  New  World,  vol.  ii.,  p.  62  ct  scq.,  and  discussion  of  the  effects  of 
glaciation,  ibid,,  p.  348. 


440 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


them  and,  not  knowing  the  origin  of  the  architectural  works,  at 
tempted  to  account  for  them  by  fairy  tales  like  the  legend  of  the 
Dwarf's  House,  which  Stephens  learned.  The  people  nearest  the 


Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  i8gg  Photographed  by  the  author 

PROKABLE  ASPECT    OF    ALASKA    SUMMER  LANDSCAPE  SOME  6OO  YEARS  AGO 

ice  front  are  still  represented  by  the  Eskimo,  and  their  next 
neighbours,  as  of  yore,  are  the  Athapascans,  and  Algonquins,  and 
so  on  down  in  zones  more  or  less  distinct,  but  considerably  deranged 
by  subsequent  migrations,  to  the  builders  of  the  Yucatec  ruins. 
The  Apaches  and  Navajos  are  usually  said  to  have  come  down  from 
their  kin  in  the  North,  but  it  is  equally  possible  that  they  remained 


Origin,   Migrations,   and  History  441 

behind  in  the  high  mountains  while  their  kin  pushed  on.1  The 
table-lands  of  Mexico,  being  high  and  temperate,  formed  a  final 
refuge  for  many  tribes,  some  of  whom  had  profited  by  contact  with 
the  centre  of  development,  and  these  roamed  the  plateau,  one 
branch  finally  settling  around  the  lake  of  Mexico,  and  there 
planting  again  the  seeds  of  the  lowland  culture.  Many  tribes 
were  early  crowded  into  the  California  coast  region,  because  the  low 
land  climate  there  remained  comparatively  mild,  and  the  supply 
of  fish,  seals,  etc.  was  so  great  that  they  were  not  compelled  to 
till  the  soil  for  subsistence  (if  indeed  they  were  possessed  of 
sufficient  knowledge,  or  if  the  land  were  in  condition  to  produce), 
as  was  the  case  farther  south,  where  the  population  was  denser 
and  natural  supplies  insufficient.  But  the  region  was  so  inhos 
pitable  that  only  fragments  of  these  tribes  survived.  They  did 
not  multiply. 

The  reason  the  Eastern  continents  produced  many  and  diverse 
peoples  is  that  the  glacial  period  temperate  zone,  or  warm  zone, 
extended  through  many  degrees  of  longitude,  offering  extensive 
areas  of  settlement  to  the  races  in  that  hemisphere,  where  they 
remained  more  or  less  isolated  and  independent,  to  advance  in  their 
own  way  and  along  their  own  lines  ;  that  is,  on  the  Eastern  con 
tinents  there  was  ample  latitudinal  land  space,  while  on  the  West 
ern  there  was  a  very  limited  latitudinal  land  space  that  retained  a 
salubrious  climate.  This  was  the  cause  of  North  American  race 
homogeneity. 

The  period  of  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the  so-called  dis 
appearance  of  the  ice  was  formerly  believed  to  be  very  great,  but 
latterly  views  on  this  point  have  been  much  modified.  Gilbert  has 
declared,  after  a  study  of  the  Niagara  gorge,  that  the  time  since  the 
ice  left  that  region  is  not  more  than  seven  thousand  years,  perhaps 
Jess.  More  recent  investigations  have  tended  to  confirm  his  sug 
gestion  of  fewer  years.  Immediately  after  the  recession  of  glacial 
ice,  as  may  be  seen  in  Alaska  to-day,  erosion  is  extremely  rapid. 
I  have  not  space  to  discuss  this  point  at  length,  but  it  is  apparent 
that  the  rate  of  erosion  is  variable,  and  I  doubt  if  more  than  five 
thousand  years  have  passed  since  the  ice  left  the  vicinity  of  the 
Niagara  gorge.  As  it  still  lingers  in  the  North,  far  down  on  the 
Pacific  side,  it  is  probably  not  more  than  a  thousand  years  since  its 

1  "  When  first  met  with  the  Navajos  occupied  the  same  range  of  country 
they  now  inhabit." — Bandelier,  Report,  part  i.,  p.  175. 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

A   PUEBLOAN   WARRIOR    OF   NAMBE,  NEW    MEXICO,    IN   BATTLE   ARRAY 

442 


Origin,   Migrations,  and   History  443 

influence  was  powerful  in  affecting  the  climate  of  all  the  region  south 
ward.  The  North  is  undoubtedly  growing  warmer.  Some  five 
hundred  years  ago  Alaska  was  still  covered  with  glacial  ice. 
Five  hundred  years  from  now  there  will  scarcely  be  a  glacier 
to  be  found  there,  except  in  the  highest  mountains.  "The  next 
generation  will  find  few  of  them  with  their  fronts  still  in  the  sea," 
says  Henry  Gannett.1 

The  most  widely  spread  stocks  are  made  up  of  those  that  were 
forced  to  occupy  a  middle  position  during  the  cold,  like  the  Algon- 
quins  and  Athapascans,  who  were  invigorated  by  it.  Other  stocks, 
for  reasons  not  understood,  dwindled  to  mere  handfuls  of  people, 
like  the  Karankawan,  now  extinct,  the  Adaizan,  the  Natchezan, 
the  Uchean,  the  Zufiian,  Keresan,  and  others.  The  oldest  people 
of  the  Valley  of  Mexico  mentioned  are  the  Xicalancas,  Olmecas, 
and  the  Toltecs.  Brinton  believed  the  latter  never  existed,  but 
other  authors,  fully  as  distinguished,  accept  them  as  a  bona-Jidc 
tribe.  They  may  have  been  kindred  to  the  Nahuatls,  coming  from 
the  crowded  lowlands,  as  the  waters  rose  and  the  heat  increased, 
and  occupying  the  cooler  plateau.  Their  wilder  relatives  later  be 
came  influenced  by  them  and  adopting  their  learning  began  the 
famous  development  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  The  period  of  evo 
lution  in  the  crowded  region  was  very  long.  Tribes  rose  to  power 
and  declined.2  Other  tribes,  profiting  by  their  experience,  took  up 
some  of  their  ways  and  progressed.  Many  of  these  tribes  we  have 
no  reminiscence  of. 

Back  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  by  Cortes,  the  thread  of  au 
thentic  history  becomes  most  uncertain.  It  begins  about  the  sixth 
century.  Ixtlilxochitl,  the  native  Mexican,  has  written  a  good 
deal,  but  it  must  be  taken,  oftentimes,  with  extreme  caution. 
The  history  of  the  Amerind  race  is  written  mainly  by  their  con 
querors.  It  is  a  one-sided  affair,  and  even  so  is  not  pleasant  read 
ing.  Balzac  says  :  ' '  Historians  are  privileged  liars,  who  lend 
their  pen  to  popular  beliefs."  Certainly  the  character  of  the 
Amerind  and  his  doings  have  not  often  been  too  charitably  drawn, 

1  National  Geographical  Magazine,  December  T,  1899,  p.  509. 

2  "  That  there  was  a  primitive  empire     .     .     .     seems  to  some  minds 
confirmed  by  other  evidences  than  the  story  of  Votan     .     .     .     and  out  of 
this  empire     .     .     .     have  come,  as  such  believers  say,  after  its  downfall, 
somewhere  near  the  Christian  era,  and  by  divergence,  the  great  stocks  of 
people  called  Maya,  etc." — Winsor,  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  vol.  i.,  p.  134. 


444  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


while,  on  the  other  hand,  our  actions  toward  him,  even  as  related 
by  ourselves,  are  enough  to  make  one  sometimes  doubt  the  bene 
fits  of  civilisation.  Morgan,  speaking  of  the  remnant  of  the 
Senecas,  says  :  "To  embitter  their  sense  of  desolation  as  a  nation, 
the  pre-emptive  right  to  these  last  remnants  of  their  ancient  pos 
sessions  is  now  held  by  a  company  of  land  speculators,  the  Ogden 
Land  Company,  who,  to  wrest  away  these  few  acres,  have  pursued 
and  hunted  them  for  the  last  fourteen  years  with  a  degree  of 

wickedness  hardly  to  be 
paralleled  in  the  history 
of  human  avarice.  Not 
only  have  every  principle 
of  honesty,  every  dictate 
of  humanity,  every  Chris 
tian  precept  been  violated 

WJ/ft/iiiPBl^  ky  tnis  company  in  their 

/',  /fflBKfe  eager  artifices  to  despoil 

theSenecas;  butthedark- 
est  frauds,  the  basest  brib 
ery,  and  the  most  exe 
crable  intrigues  which 
soulless  avarice  could 
suggest,  have  been  prac 
tised  in  open  day  upon 
this  defenceless  and  much 
inj  ured  people. ' '  ' 

On    one    occasion    in 
1643,  out  of  a  spirit  of  re 
venge  for  a  murder  com 
mitted  by  an  Indian  who 
had   been    infuriated   by 
whisky,     but     whose 
friends,    according   to 
Amerind  custom,  offered 
to  pay  a  blood  indemnity, 
Governor  Kieft,  heading 
a  band  of  soldiers  and  freebooters  from  Dutch  privateers,  fell  upon 
the  unsuspecting  Algonquins  and  slaughtered  over  a  hundred  of 
them.     Little  children  were  tossed  into  the  river,  and  the  parents 
1  League  of  the  Iroquois. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

APACHE  WOMAN  CARRYING  WATER  IN  A 
WICKER  BOTTLE 


Origin,    Migrations,   and   History  445 

who  plunged  to  the  rescue  were  prevented  from  landing  by  the 
soldiers,  and  child  and  parent  both  perished.  In  this  incident  be 
gan  the  Dutch  and  Indian  War,  which  lasted  two  years.  Can 
anyone  condemn  them  for  going  to  war  after  such  treatment  ? 

Acts  of  white  brutality  of  this  character  could  be  quoted  to  fill 
a  volume,  but  these  are  sufficient  to  indicate  the  manner  of  the 
European  approach,  except  in  the  case  of  Perm.  The  more  docile 
the  Amerinds  were,  the  more  abuse  they  got.  If  they  became  self- 
supporting  like  the  Navajos,  the  government  gave  them  nothing  ; 
if  they  were  murderous  and  deadly,  like  the  Apaches,  the  govern 
ment  took  care  of  them  and  fed  them.  Issuing  rations  is  a  proper 
thing,  when  we  have  destroyed  the  native  means  of  subsistence, 
but  the  tribe  that  works  and  helps  itself  ought  to  be  aided  further 
toward  civilisation  in  other  ways.  One  of  the  most  stubborn  of 
the  numerous  Amerind  wars  was  the  Seminole  in  the  Everglades 
of  Florida.  Our  whole  available  force  was  engaged  in  this  war, 
besides  some  fifty  thousand  militia  and  volunteers.  Though  there 
were  probably  not  more  than  four  hundred  warriors,  the  cost  of  the 
war  was  over  $30,000,000,  and  three  thousand  lives  were  sacri 
ficed.  The  wars  with  the  Apaches  were  long  and  difficult.  The 
Modocs  also  carried  on  a  disastrous  war,  and  recently  the  Sioux 
took  their  turn.  These  wars  could  generally  have  been  averted 
by  proper  diplomacy.  The  battle  of  Wounded  Knee  was  precipi 
tated  by  a  wild  and  unauthorised  shot  at  a  critical  moment  by  one 
of  our  soldiers.  Had  he  remained  inactive  the  battle  would  prob 
ably  never  have  occurred.  Many  tribes  were  exterminated  at  an 
early  period.  Most  of  the  Carolina  tribes  were  destroyed  between 
1714  and  1740.  To-day  very  few  Amerinds  exist  in  the  United 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Those  who  were  not  destroyed,  or 
who  are  not  still  living  on  lands  reserved  for  them,  are  mostly  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  either  on  lands  belonging  to  them  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  or  on  scattered  reservations.  Tribes  in  Indian  Terri 
tory  have  long  conducted  a  sort  of  civilised  government,  but  some 
of  them  are  now  on  the  eve  of  selling  their  lands  and  purchas 
ing  broader  tracts  with  the  funds  obtained,  in  Mexico.  The 
Navajos  are  in  possession  of  an  enormous  area  lying  across  the  line 
of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  their  vast  herds  of  sheep,  cattle, 
and  horses  require  extensive  grazing,  so  that  it  will  be  impossible 
to  reduce  the  area  allotted  to  them,  especially  as  the  tribe  is 
steadily  increasing  in  numbers.  Schools  of  mechanic  arts  should 


446 


Origin,   Migrations,   and  History 


447 


speedily  be  established  among  them,  in  order  that  when  they 
eventually  are  obliged  to  look  to  other  avenues  of  support  .than 
stock-raising,  they  can  do  work  that  will  command  a  price.  It 
makes  not  the  slightest  difference  whether  or  not  they  are  able  to 
read  English,  if  they  have  wares  to  sell  that  white  people  need  and 
want,  and  the  Navajo  is  capable  of  great  development  on  the 
mechanical  side.  They  will  learn  Knglish  when  necessity  requires 
it.  The  Mokis  have  a  reservation 
adjoining  the  Navajos,  and  it  is 
ample  for  them  for  all  time,  as 
they  are  not  increasing,  and  their 
herds  of  sheep  are  small. 

In  the  West  the  history  of  the 
Amerind  is  linked  mainly  with 
that  of  but  two  other  races,  the 
Spanish  and  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
while  in  the  East  it  is  intimately 
bound  up  with  the  wars  and  his 
tory  of  the  Dutch  and  French  as 
well.  All  the  struggles  of  these 
European  races  for  supremacy 
affected  the  Amerind,  and  in  the 
East  he  is  found  sometimes  on 
one  side,  sometimes  on  another. ' 
He  did  not  for  some  time  discover 
that  his  doom  was  in  the  Euro 
pean  regardless  of  kind.  At  first, 
too,  the  Amerind  extended  the 
law  of  hospitality  to  the  new 
comers,  and  the  Europeans  would  have  starved  to  death  in  some 
instances  had  it  not  been  for  the  timely  aid  of  the  race  in  possession 
of  the  soil,  and  whose  reward  was  subsequent  destruction.  The 
Amerinds  at  last  tried  to  combine,  as  in  the  conspiracy  of  Pontiac, 
against  their  increasing  foe,  and  had  they  been  able  to  throw  aside 
some  of  their  peculiar  regulations  and  form  a  wide-spreading  and 

1  For  information  on  the  Amerindian  wars,  their  efforts  to  preserve  their 
territory,  etc.,  see  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States ;  Winsor's  Nar 
rative  and  Critical  History  of  the  United  States;  Winsor's  other  works  ; 
Parkman,  John.  Fiske  ;  and  numerous  other  books  to  be  found  in  any  good 
library. 


PI.  LXI.— Second  Ann.  U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 
SHELL   SPIDER  GORGETS 

From  mounds  in  Missouri,  Illinois, 
and  Tennessee 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 


George  Catlin 


BLACK   HAWK 
The  great  central  figure  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  1832 


448 


Origin,   Migrations,   and  History  449 

close  confederacy,  they  could  have  compelled  the  Europeans  to  halt 
on  the  Atlantic  slopes  of  the  Appalachian  chain  for  a  long  period. 
"  In  our  ignorance, "  says  Simon  Pokagon,  chief  of  the  Pokagon 
Pottawatomies,  ' '  we  did  not  comprehend  the  mighty  ocean  of  hu 
manity  that  lay  back  of  the  advance  waves  of  pioneer  settlement. 
But  being  fired  by  as  noble  patriotism  as  ever  burned  in  the  hearts 
of  mortals,  we  tried  to  beat  back  the  reckless  white  man  who  dared 
to  settle  within  our  borders  —  and  vast  armies  were  sent  out  to  pun 
ish  us.  We  fought  most  heroically  against  overpowering  numbers 
for  home  and  native  land  ;  sometimes  victory  was  ours,  as  when, 
during  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century,  after  having 
many  warriors  killed,  and  our  villages  burned  to  the  ground,  our 
fathers  arose  in  their  might,  putting  to  flight  the  alien  armies  of 
Generals  Harmer  and  St.  Clair,  hurling  them  in  disorder  from  the 
wilderness  across  our  borders  into  their  own  ill-gotten  domain." 
But  the  whites  who  had  already  come  to  America,  however 
much  they  might  have  desired  to  leave  the  Amerinds  alone,  were 
powerless  to  prevent  other  whites,  in  search  of  better  fortunes, 
from  dispossessing  them,  and  so  impelled  by  the  pressure  of  Euro 
pean  population,  numbers  came  and  numbers  came  again  and 
again,  and  yet  still  others  behind  them.  The  result,  the  final 
result,  was  inevitable.  The  Amerind  was  doomed  when  Colum 
bus  first  saw  the  Western  land,  and  nothing  that  the  Amerind 
could  have  done  would  have  greatly  changed  the  final  course  of 
events.  Tecumseh  made  an  heroic  effort  to  unite  his  people  in  a 
stubborn  stand  against  the  enemy,  but  the  difficulty  was  that 
there  were  not  enough  Tecumsehs.  The  powerful  league  of  the 
Iroquois,  that  once  promised  to  dominate  the  whole  continent, 
began  its  decline  with  the  very  first  intercourse  with  the  Euro 
peans,  so  that  in  1750  they  were  about  half  their  former  number. 
The  league  was  probably  formed  about  the  middle  of  the  six 
teenth  century,  and  in  these  two  hundred  years  they  reached  their 
highest  power  and  were  on  the  wane.  As  it  must  have  taken 
them  some  time  to  reach  the  point  where  they  could  form  such  a 
body  as  the  league,  they  must  have  been  a  powerful  and  pro 
gressive  people  at  least  a  hundred  years  before,  so  that  their  main 
existence  as  a  progressive  people  probably  covered  a  period  of 
some  three  hundred  years  if  not  more.  Had  they  not  been 
wrecked  by  contact  with  Europeans,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  they 
1  Harper's  Magazine,  March,  1899,  p.  640. 


450 


Origin,   Migrations,  and  History  451 

would  have  advanced  to  double  their  power,  at  least,  in  another 
century.  They  destroyed  the  Siouan  tribes  of  the  Bast,  held  the 
Lenape  in  subjection,  and  terrorised  the  Algon quins  as  far  as  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

King  Philip,  Red  Jacket,  Pontiac,  Black  Hawk,  and  many 
other  Amerinds  distinguished  themselves  as  men  of  wide  capacity, 
and  in  our  later  day  may  be  mentioned  the  famous  Sitting  Bull, 
whose  sagacity,  intelligence,  and  military  skill  were  of  an  ex 
tremely  high  order.  He  gave  us  much  trouble,  to  be  sure,  but 
if  all  is  fair  in  war,  Sitting  Bull  deserves  great  praise  for  his  ability. 

In  war  the  Amerinds  were  given  to  killing  all  they  could,  but 
as  this  is  the  business  of  war,  and  as  white  armies  use  weapons 


American  Museum 

MUSICAL  BOW  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  TEPEHUANES  AND  THE  AZTECS,  MEXICO 
The  sounding-board  is  a  gourd  with  a  hole  in  it.  The  other  end  of  the  brace  attached  to  the  bow 
rests  on  a  stone.  The  cord  of  the  bow  was  struck  by  a  stick  to  produce  the  desired  noise. 
Found  by  Lumholtz  in  use.  Length  of  bow,  i  metre  36.5  centimetres.  See  page  308  ;  and  also 
article  on  "Geographical  Distribution  of  the  Musical  Bow"  by  O.  T.  Mason,  American 
Anthropologist,  November,  1897;  Natural  History  of  the  Musical  Bow,  by  Henry  Balfour  ; 
and  "Symbolism  of  the  Huichol  Indians,"  by  Carl  Lumholtz,  Memoirs  of  the  American 
Museum,  vol.  iii,  pages  206,  207 

that  are  also  meant  to  kill,  and  seem  to  try  to  do  killing  in  battle, 
we  cannot  be  too  hard  on  the  Amerind  warrior  if  he  did  not  always 
do  his  killing  exactly  in  the  way  we  do  it.  "  Murder  as  a  fine 
art ' '  was  not  one  of  his  studies.  He  killed  and  we  kill ;  where  is 
the  difference  ?  Wars  may  be  necessary  ;  I  think  they  sometimes 
are  ;  so  did  the  Amerind. 

Long  before  any  permanent  settlers  pushed  to  the  wilderness, 
adventurous  traders  penetrated  to  remote  regions  with  the  whisky 
keg,  and  as  they  seldom  expected  to  go  to  the  same  place  twice,  they 
usually  swindled  the  native  outrageously.  Many  of  these  were 
Frenchmen,  and  they  were  given  the  name  of  Coureurs  du  Bois. 
There  were  also  always  certain  outlaws  who  found  safety  in  put- 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

GENERAL  TYPE    OF   CHIMMESYAN,  HAIDA,    AND   TLINKIT   CHIEF'S   COSTUME, 
NORTH-WEST    COAST 

The  Chilkat  blanket  which  this  man  has  over  his  shoulders  "  is  so  called  because  the  best  specimens 
come  from  the  Chilkat  country,"  says  Niblack.  All  the  North-west  coast  tribes  use  it.  Ine 
warp  is  cedar  bark  twine  and  the  woof  a  yarn  made  of  mountain-goat  wool.  See  pages  128, 142. 

452 


Origin,   Migrations,  and  History 


453 


ting  a  great  distance  between  themselves  and  the  law.  These 
classes  were  more  apt  to  stir  the  native  up  against  the  European 
than  to  render  intercourse  easy,  and  often,  in  early  times  as  well 
as  in  our  day,  they  incited  the  Amerinds  to  war  for  the  sake  of 
their  own  gains.  But  it  was  the  coming  of  actual  settlers  which 
caused  the  greatest  trouble.  They  appropriated  the  soil,  killed 
the  game,  and  otherwise  interfered  with  rights  which  the  tribe 
concerned  had  for  centuries,  perhaps,  regarded  as  theirs  alone.  In 
the  case  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  it  being  well  understood 
that  they  occupied  certain  points  merely  for  trade,  no  trouble 
was  ever  experienced.  For  two  hundred  years  this  company 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth. 

PERFORATED   DISCOIDAL   STONE,   ILLINOIS 

traded  all  over  the  northern  part  of  the  continent  without  a  seri 
ous  rupture  with  any  tribe !  Each  tribe  held  its  own  lands 
as  before,  so  far  as  the  company  was  concerned,  hence  there  was 
no  clashing  ;  but  with  settlers  taking  up  choice  places  it  becomes 
another  matter. 

The  stories  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  Soto,  Cortes,  Coronado,  John 
Smith,  La  Salle,  Tonti,  Joliet,  Lewis  and  Clark,  Fremont,  and 
many  others  are  valuable,  not  only  for  the  adventures  contained  in 
them  and  the  descriptions  of  new  country,  but  because  of  the 
descriptions  of  Amerinds  as  they  existed  in  the  beginning.  Our 
understanding  of  the  routes  of  some  of  these  explorers  is  not 
always  strictly  accurate,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  route  has  much 
to  do  with  our  properly  placing  geographically  the  Amerinds 
named  therein.  There  are  grave  discrepancies  in  the  tracing  of 


T-S 


HOBOBO,    THE   FIRE    KATCINA   IN   THE    SOMAIKOLI   CEREMONY,    CICHUMOVI,    1884 

From  a  drawing  by  the  author,  after  one  of  his  photographs.     The  mask  enclosed  the 
whole  head,  and  was  of  cloth,  stained  green,  with  globular  eyes  attached 


454 


Origin,  Migrations,  and  History  455 

that  of  Coronado,  for  example.     In  another  place  I  have  presented 
my  views  on  this  subject1 

As  there  were  outlaws  among  the  whites,  so  too  there  were 
outlaws  among  the  Amerinds.  These  were  men  from  various 
tribes  who  had  committed  crimes  and  escaped  the  punishment  they 
should  have  received  according  to  the  law  of  their  people,  and 
coming  together  they  sometimes  formed  a  band  by  themselves  in 
some  strong 
and  isolated  po 
sition.  A  good 
example  of 
such  a  band  of 
renegades  was 
that  of  one  Pat- 
nish  in  south 
eastern  Utah 
near  the  Navajo 
mountain.  It 
was  composed 
of  outlaws  from 
the  surround 
ing  tribes, 
chiefly  Utes 
and  Navajos, 
and  was  the  ter 
ror  of  the  coun 
try,  though  in 
1872,  when  I 
first  knew  of  it, 

nothing  in  the  way  of  serious  depredation  had  been  attempted  forsev- 
eral  years.  The  Mormons  of  southern  Utah  looked  upon  Patnish  as 
a  dangerous  man,  yet  he  sometimes  came  to  their  frontier  villages  in 
a  peaceful  way.  He  had  three  or  four  stalwart  sons  who  usually 
accompanied  him  in  his  travels,  and  they  were  always  ready  for 
emergencies.  The  band  wore  the  Navajo  dress  and,  I  understood, 
preferred  to  be  considered  Navajos.  Beckwourth  mentions  a  rene 
gade  band  of  this  sort  in  his  time,  a  village  "composed  of  out 
laws  from  all  the  surrounding  tribes,  who  were  expelled  from  their 

1  "The  True  Route  of  Coronado's  March,"  Bulletin  of  American  Geo 
graphical  Society,  December,  1897. 


Photographed  by  the  author 

CIRCLE  OF  DANCERS  IN  THE  INTERVALS  BETWEEN  THE 
APPEARANCES  OF  THE  VARIOUS  KATCINAS  IN  THE 
MOKI  SOMAIKOLI  CEREMONY,  CICHUMOVI,  ARIZONA 

1884 


456  The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

various  communities  for  sundry  infractions  of  their  rude  criminal 
code ;  they  had  acquired  a  hard  name  for  their  cruelties  and 
excesses,  and  many  white  traders  were  known  to  have  been  killed 
by  them.  .  .  .  The  village  numbered  three  hundred  lodges, 
and  could  bring  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  warriors  into  the 
field.  ...  We  called  it  the  City  of  Refuge."  '  He  speaks  of 
them  as  Cheyennes,  but  I  suppose  they  were  Cheyennes  in  the 
same  way  that  Patnish's  band  were  Navajos ;  because  they 
preferred  to  be  called  so. 

These  outlaws  often  caused  trouble  between  the  better  class  of 
Amerinds  and  the  whites,  because,  especially  in  the  earlier  days, 
an  "Indian"  was  an  "Indian"  always  and  everywhere,  and  a 
crime  of  the  outlaws  or  others  was  revenged  upon  the  first ' '  Indian' ' 
that  was  met  with.  There  never  was  any  inquiry  to  find  out  if  he 
committed  the  crime  ;  he  was  generally  shot  on  sight.  Innocence 
was  a  quality  never  thought  of  in  dealing  with  "  Indians."  By 
reason  of  their  birth,  they  were  all  guilty  of  any  crime  perpetrated. 

But  I  have  already  exceeded  the  limits  prescribed  for  this 
book.  In  concluding,  I  would  say  that  it  seems  from  all  the 
evidence  available  that  this  continent  was  peopled  at  a  period 
so  remote  that  other  races  had  not  yet  developed  their  present 
characteristics.  This  was  probably  before  the  glacial  epoch 
began,  while  the  Northern  climate  was  mild,  and  while  land 
surfaces  were  distributed  more  on  latitudinal  lines,  separated  by 
narrower  waters.  Afterwards  there  was  a  rearrangement  by  the 
forces  of  nature,  which,  together  with  the  extreme  cold  of  the 
North,  effectually  separated  the  Amerinds  from  other  peoples,  and 
caused  them  to  mingle  and  react  on  each  other  till  even  the  affini 
ties  which  had  before  developed  in  different  localities  and  had  pro 
duced  some  differentiation  of  types  were  almost  rubbed  out  and 
remain  to-day  only  as  tinges  of  the  earlier  qualities.  The  other 
world  tribes,  subjected  to  other  influences,  have  developed  other 
differences  and  have  diverged  from  their  original  stocks.  It  is 
also  probable  that  in  the  redistribution  of  land  surfaces  and  rear 
rangement  of  land  levels,  many  stocks,  some  nighty  developed, 
were  obliterated.  Slight  modifications  may  have  occurred  through 
later  accidental  intrusions  from  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  but  if 
there  had  been  any  considerable  intercourse  within  a  recent  period 

1  Life  and  Adventures,  p.  438. 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

between  outside  peoples  and  the  Amerinds  we  should  have  found 
distinct  traces  of  it  in  the  writings  of  early  days.  People  as  differ 
ent  and  extraordinary  as  the  Amerinds  were  would  have  produced 
a  vivid  impression  on  any  who  might  have  seen  them  and  contrari 
wise  a  European,  for  example,  would  have  left  a  lasting  impression. 
On  the  extreme  North-west  coast  there  seems  to  be  a  type  re 
semblance  to  Asiatics,  but  this  is  more  likely  due  to  an  extremely 
early  colouring  which  was  preserved  by  special  isolation  on  this 
continent,  rather  than  to  any  considerable  infusion  of  Asiatic  blood 
in  recent  time.  As  before  remarked,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the 
Alaska  and  North-west  coast  tribes  reached  those  regions  from 
the  South  and  South-east  in  comparatively  late  times.1  Tak 
ing  a  broad  view  of  the  question,  it  seems  to  be  an  inevitable 
conclusion  that  the  Amerind  race,  or  rather  the  various  races  of 
which  it  was  originally  composed,  were  early  cut  off  on  this  hem 
isphere  from  intercourse  with  the  remainder  of  the  world,  and  held 
in  isolation  by  a  change  in  land  distribution  and  by  the  continued 
glaciation  of  the  northern  portions  of  the  continent  which  in  a 
measure  endures  to  this  day.  The  climate  of  North-eastern  Siberia 
was  also  glacial  and  prevented  migrations  from  milder  regions. 
Many  eminent  archaeologists  agree  that  the  Amerind  was  here 
before  the  great  cold  moved  down,  although  the  evidence  of 
implements  and  remains  as  we  now  understand  them  is,  perhaps,  in 
sufficient.  Languages,  traits,  customs,  and  arts  are  also  to  be  con 
sidered,  and  they  seem  all  to  favour,  as  outlined  above,  the  theory 
of  an  exceedingly  remote  peopling  of  this  continent  from  various 
directions.  But  this  slight  attempt  to  outline  vast  movements  must 
be  brought  to  a  close.  To  sum  briefly  up,  then,  it  seems  that  the 
Amerindian  race,  while  originally  composed  of  different  elements, 
was,  as  a  body,  separated  from  the  other  peoples  of  the  world,  at 
a  remote  epoch,  and  by  peculiar  climatic  and  geographic  influences, 
welded  into  an  ethnic  unity,  which  was  unimpressed  by  outside 
influences  till  modern  times. 


NOTE. — For  an  excellent  resume  of  facts  on  "  The  Prehistoric  Archaeology 
of  North  America,"  see  the  article  by  Henry  W.  Haynes,  p.  329,  Winsor's 
Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i. ;  also  "The 

1  Bering  found  no  inhabitants  on  the  Aleutian  islands  and  his  visit  of 
discovery  was  recent — 1741. 


Origin,   Migrations,  and  History 


459 


Progress  of  Opinion  Respecting  the  Origin  and  Antiquity  of  Man  in 
America,"  by  Justin  Winsor,  ibid.,  p.  369  ;  also  the  "  Critical  Essay  on 
Sources  of  Information,"  p.  316  ;  and  for  pre-Columbian  explorations  see 
p.  76  ;  and,  The  Common  Source  or  Basis  of  Old  and  New  World  Civil 
isations,  by  Mrs.  Zelia  Nuttall,  Peabody  Museum. 


U.  S.  Nat.  Mu. 

THE   SWASTIKA 
A  primitive  and  universal  sign 


U.  S.  Bu.  Eth.  STICK    USED    IN    THE    AWL    GAME 


APPENDIX  ' 

A  LIST  of  the  principal  stocks  or  families,  tribes,  and  many  sub-tribes  of" 
the  North  American  Amerinds,  based  on  the  linguistic  classification 
of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  as  given  in  the  Seventh  Annual  Report ; 
on  Brinton's  classification  in  his  The  American  Race ,  on  Mason's  "Lin 
guistic  Families  of  Mexico,"  in  the  American  Anthropologist,  N.  S.,  vol.  ii., 
No.  i  ;  in  Mexico,  Washington,  1900,  Bureau  of  American  Republics  ;  Ball's 
Tribes  of  the  Bxtreme  Northwest,  Contributions  to  North  American  Eth 
nology,  vol.  i.  ;  James  Mooney's  Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East ;  and  on  lists 
in  the  Bibliographies  of  James  C.  Pilling,  with  tribal  names  from  other 


LIST  OF  STOCKS  AND  SUB-STOCKS  2 

The  abbreviations  are  the  ones  used  in  the  alphabetical  list  of  tribes. 
By  referring  back  from  that  list  to  this,  the  linguistic  affinity  and  general 
geographical  location  of  a  tribe  may  be  determined.  The  author  has  added 
the  term  "  HOPITAN  "  as  a  sub-stock  of  the  SHOSHONEAN  to  designate  the 
group  of  Hopi  tribes,  which,  while  showing  strong  linguistic  affinity,  are 
otherwise,  like  the  PIMAN  and  NAHUATL.AN,  so  markedly  separated  in  habits 
from  the  true  SHOSHONEAN  stock  that  an  individual  classification  for  them 
seems  desirable.  As  the  HOPITAN  are  ranked  as  SHOSHONEAN  in  the 
general  scheme  the  harmony  of  the  classification  is  not  interfered  with. 
PTJEBI,OAN  is  also  given  as  a  comprehensive  descriptive  term  for  all  the 
permanent  house-building  tribes,  regardless  of  linguistic  affinities,  or 
ancient  or  modern  existence.  This  is  necessary  because  it  is  not  possible  to 
assign  a  linguistic  place  to  the  former  occupants  of  ruins  like  those  of  the 
Chaco,  yet  it  is  settled  that  they  were  of  a  kind  with  the  other  town  builders. 
Thus,  also,  the  Cliff-dwellers  may  be  conveniently  classed  under  this  head. 
Tusayan  and  Cibola,  as  applied  respectively  to  the  HOPITAN  and  the 
ZUNIAN,  should  never  be  used,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  not  certain  that  these 
are  the  places  that  were  so  designated  by  Coronado  in  1540.  The  author 
believes  they  were  not  seen  by  Corouado.3  It  is  in  the  interest  of  accuracy 
to  avoid  these  unnecessary  designations,  which  confuse  ethnological  and 
geographical  matters. 

1  The  thanks  of  the  author  are  due  to  Prof.  Otis  Tufton  Mason,  of  the  United  States 
National  Museum,  for  kindly  reviewing-  this  appendix  in  proof.  Prof.  Mason  writes, 
"  Your  work  has  my  approval  and  it  is  well  done." 

a  See  map,  page  33  this  book,  and  also  the  original  of  it  in  the  Seventh  Ann.  Rept. 
Bu.  Eth. 

3  See  "  The  True  Route  of  Coronado's  March,"  by  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh,  in  the  Bulletin 
of  the  American  Geographical  Society ,  December,  1897. 

461 


462  The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 

Ada.     ADAIZAN.     Western  Louisiana. 

Alq.  AirfGONguiAN.  North-east  third  of  the  continent,  from  Tennessee  and 
Montana. 

Ath.  ATHAPASCAN.  North-west  part  of  the  continent,  and  from  the  Utah- 
Colorado  line  southward  into  Mexico.  There  are  also  some  small 
groups  on  the  Pacific  coast  in  south-western  Oregon  and  north 
western  California. 

Att.     ATTACAPAN.     Southern  Louisiana. 

Beo.  BEOTHUKAN.  Northern  Newfoundland.  Extinct.  Formerly  all 
Newfoundland. 

Cad.     CADDOAN.     Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  and  North  Dakota. 

Crb.  CARIBBEAN.  Caribbean  Islands  and  British  Honduras.  Also  prob 
ably  Florida  and  S.  E.  United  States  at  a  very  early  period. 

Cpn.     CHAPANECAN.     Chiapas,  Mexico. 

Chi.     CHIMAKUAN.     North-west  Washington. 

Chrk.     CHIMARIKAN.     Northern  California. 

Chyn.  CHIMMESYAN.  British  Columbia,  near  Dixon  Entrance,  and  the 
neighbouring  Annette  Island,  in  Alaska. 

Cit.     CHINANTECAN.     Oaxaca,  Mexico. 

Chik.     CHINOOKAN.     Lower  portion  of  the  Columbia  River. 

Cht.     CHITIMACHAN.     Southern  Louisiana. 

Chon.     CHONTAI,.    See  Zap.,  My.,  Tqs.,  also  Tzental. 

Chm.    CHUMASHAN.     Southern  California  coast. 

Coh.  COAHUII/TECAN.  Lower  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  ad 
jacent  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Cop.     COPEHAN.     Northern  California. 

Cso.  CUSABOAN.  Coast  of  South  Carolina  ;  possibly  mainly  related  to  the 
Muskhogean.  It  is  a  group  title.  See  Gp. 

Cost.     COSTANOAN.     California,  south  of  the  Golden  Gate. 

Dak.     DAKOTA.     See  Siu. 

E.  Siu.     SIOUAN  OF  THE  EAST.     Same  as  Siu. 

Esk.  ESKIMAU^N.  From  Prince  William  Sound,  Alaska,  all  along  the 
northern  coasts,  islands,  and  inlets  to  Hudson  Bay,  Greenland,  and 
northern  Newfoundland. 

Alk.  Esk.     Alaska  Eskimo. 

Alu.  Esk.     Aleut  Eskimo.     Aleutian  Islands. 

Gr.  Esk.     Greenland  Eskimo. 

Lab.  Esk.     Labrador  Eskimo. 

M.  Esk.     Middle  or  Central  Eskimo.     North  of  Hudson  Bay. 

Gp.  GROUP  TiTl,E.  Several  tribes  of  different  stocks  classed  erroneously 
together. 

Gua.     GUATUSOAN.     Nicaragua. 

Ess.     ESSEI/ENIAN.     South  coast  of  California. 

Hai.     HAIDA.    See  Skit. 

Hua.     HUAVAN.     Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec. 

Ho.     HOPITAN.     North-east  Arizona.     Classed  as  Shoshonean. 

Ir.     IROQUOIAN.     Around  lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  and  down  the  St.  Law- 


Appendix  463 

rence  as  far  as  Quebec  ;  along  the  Susquehanna  and  its  branches  as 
far  as  the  mouth,  and  also  a  belt  through  northern  Georgia,  eastern 
Tennessee,  western  North  Carolina,  and  southern  Virginia. 

Kal.     KAI,APOOIAN.     Western  Oregon. 

Kar.     KARANKAWAN.     Southern  Texas.     Extinct. 

Kers.     KERESAN.     Northern  New  Mexico. 

Kio.     KIOWAN.     Indian  Territory,  formerly  in  the  Platte  valley. 

Kit.     KITUNAHAN.     British  Columbia  and  Oregon. 

Kols.     KOUJSCHAN.     Dixon  Entrance  to  Prince  William  Sound,  Alaska. 

Kuln.     KUI,ANAPAN.     North-western  California. 

Kus.     KUSAN.     Western  Oregon. 

Ln.     LENCAN.     Honduras. 

Lilt.     LUTUAMIAN.     Southern  Oregon  and  northern  California. 

Mar.     MARIPOSAN.     Southern  California. 

Mgn.     MATAGAI,PAN.     Nicaragua. 

My.     MAYAN.     Northern  border  of  Honduras  to  Isthmus  of  Tehuan tepee. 

Mex.     MEXICANA.     See  Nah. 

Mixt.     MIXTECA.     See  Zap. 

Mo.     MOQUEIJJMNAN.     Central  California. 

Mm.  MUSKHOGEAN.  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  northern  Florida, 
and  western  Tennessee. 

Nah.    NAHUAN.     See  NAHUATLAN. 

Nah.  NAHUATXAN.  Southern  portion  of  Mexico  and  parts  of  Central 
America.  Classed  as  Shoshonean. 

Nah.    NAHUAIXACA.    See  NAHUATI.AN. 

Nat.  NATCHESAN.  Northern  I/ouisiana,  western  Mississippi.  Now  in  In 
dian  Territory. 

Oto.     OTOMIAN.     Central  Mexico. 

Pal.     PAI,AIHNIHAN.     North-eastern  California. 

Pa.     PANI.    See  Cad. 

Pirn.  PIMAN.  The  Sonoran  region  of  Mexico,  and  southern  Arizona. 
Classed  as  Shoshonean. 

Pbl.  PUEBI,OAN.  See  Ho.,  Kers.,  Pirn.,  Tan.,  Zun.,  etc.  Northern  Mex 
ico  and  the  south-western  part  of  the  United  States.  The  stone  and 
adobe  house  building  tribes. 

Puj.     PUJUNAN.     North-eastern  California. 

Qrs.     QuERES.     See  Kers. 

Qor.     QUORATEAN.     Northern  California. 

Sli.     SAUNAN.     Southern  California  coast. 

Salh.  SAUSHAN.  North-west  Oregon,  northern  Washington,  northern 
Idaho,  western  Montana,  south-western  British  Columbia. 

Sas.     SASTEAN.     Northern  California. 

Ser.     SERIAN.     Tiburon  Island  and  adjacent  coast  of  Mexico. 

Shap.  SHAHAPTIAN.  South-east  Washington,  north-west  Oregon,  western 
Idaho. 

Sho.  SHOSHONEAN.  Southern  Texas  to  northern  Montana  and  north  of  the 
Colorado  River,  west  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  In  southern  California 


464  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 

through  to  the  Pacific.  Under  Shoshonean  are  classed  by  some 
authorities  not  only  the  true  Shoshonean  but  the  Nahuatlan,  Piman. 
and  Hopitan.  Including  the  Piman  and  Nahuatlan  the  stock  range 
would  extend  throughout  Mexico  and  to  parts  of  Central  America. 

Siu.  SIOUAN.  Continuously  from  northern  Louisiana  to  the  province  of 
Saskatchewan,  eastward  to  the  Mississippi,  and  in  Wisconsin  as  far 
as  Lake  Michigan.  Westward  to  the  eastern  boundaries  of  Colo 
rado  and  Idaho.  There  were  also  formerly  a  number  of  tribes  of 
this  stock  in  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  See 
E.  Siu. 

Skit.     SKITTAGETAN.    Queen  Charlotte  Island,  North-west  coast. 

Sub.     SUBTIABAN.     Nicaragua. 

Tak.    TA KIDMAN.     South-west  Oregon. 

Tan.     TANOAN.     Valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  New  Mexico. 

Tar.    TARASCAN.     Michoacan,  Mexico. 

Tqs.     TEQUISTI,ATECAN.     Oaxaca,  Mexico. 

7>.    TEWAN  or  TEHUAN.    See  Tan. 

Tim.     TIMUQUANAN.     Florida. 

77.    TUNKIT.     See  Kols. 

Tkn.    TONIKAN.     Eastern  Louisiana  and  western  Mississippi. 

Tow.    TONKAWAN.     Western  and  southern  Texas. 

Tot.     TOTONACAN.     State  of  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico. 

Tzl.    TZENTAI,.     Tabasco,  Mexico.     See  also  Chon. 

Uch.     UCHEAN.     Georgia. 

Ulv.     UiyVAN.     Honduras. 

Un.    UNIDENTIFIED.     Region,  state,  or  possible  affinity  following. 

Uto-Az.     UTo-AzTECAN.     See  Ho.,  Nah.,  Pirn.,  Sho. 

Wlp.    WAIH,ATPUAN.     North-east  Oregon. 

Wak.     WAKASHAN.     Coast  of  British  Columbia. 

Wash.    WASHOAN.     Eastern  California  ;  western  Nevada. 

Wei.     WEITSPEKAN.     North-west  California  ;  south-west  Oregon. 

Wish.     WISHOSKAN.     North-west  California. 

Ykn.    YAKONAN.     Coast  of  Oregon. 

Yan.     YANAN.     Northern  California. 

Yuk.     YUKIAN.     Western  California. 

Yma.     YUMAN.     Arizona,  southern  California,  and  Lower  California. 

Zap.    ZAPOTECAN.    Southern  Mexico. 

Zo.     ZOQUEAN.     Chiapas  and  Oaxaca,  Mexico. 

Zun.     ZUNIAN.     Western  New  Mexico. 


Appendix 
LIST  OF  TRIBES 


465 


The  stocks  are  also  included  and  are  printed  in  capitals.     In  order  to 
facilitate  reference  several  titles  of  the  same  tribe  are  sometimes  given. 


Abbato-tena.    Ath. 
Abnaki.     Alq. 
Absaruqe.     Siu. 
Acadian.     Alq. 
Acaxees.     JVah. 
Acconeechy.     E.  Siu. 
Acha.     Pbl. 
Ache'to-tin'neh.     Ath. 
Achis.     My. 
Achomawi.     Pal. 
Acolhua.     Nah. 
Acoma.     Kers. 
Acomita.     Kers. 
Acquera.     Tim. 
Acxoteca.     Nah. 
Adahi.     Ada. 
Adai.     Ada. 
ADAIZAN.    Ada. 
Adaize.     Ada. 
Adees.     Ada. 
Adshusheer.     E.  Siu. 
Aggomiut.     M.  Esk. 
Agualulco.     Nah. 
Aguateca.     My. 
Aguile.     Tim. 
Agutit.     M.  Esk. 
Ahaknanelet.    M.  Esk. 
Ahantchuyuk.     Kal. 
Ahome.     Pirn. 
Ahowsaht.      Wak. 
Aht.     Wak. 
Ahtena.    Ath. 
Aicale.     My. 
Aivillinniut.     M.  Esk. 
Aiyan.     Ath. 
Ajoye.     My. 
Akansea.     Siu. 
Akbat.     Gr.  Esk. 
Akenatzy.     E.  Siu. 
Akoklako.     Kit. 
Akorninak.     Gr.  Esk. 


Akudliarmiut.   M.Esk. 
Akudnirrniut.   M.  Esk. 
Alaguilac.     Nah. 
Alame.     My. 
Alasapa.     Coh. 
Aleut.     Alu.  Esk. 
Algonkin.     Alq. 
AI,GONQUIAN.     Alq. 
Algonquin.     Alq. 
Alibamu.     Mus. 
Aliche.     Cad. 
Alikwa.     Wei. 
Alimacani.     Tim. 
Alsea.     Ykn. 
Altatin.     Ath. 
Aluik.     Gr.  Esk. 
Amitormiut.    M.  Esk. 
Amuchgo.     Zap. 
Amusgo.     Zap. 
Anaddakka.     Cad. 
Anani.     E.  Siu. 
Anarnitsok.     Gr.  Esk. 
Anasitch.     Kus. 
Andaste.     Ir. 
Augmagsalik.  Gr.  Esk. 
Annocchy.      E.  Siu. 
Anouala.     Tim. 
Apache.     Ath. 
Apalachi.     Mus. 
Appalou.     Tim. 
Aquamish.      Wak. 
Aquonena.      Tim. 
Arapaho.     Alq. 
Arctic  Highlander.    Gr. 

Esk. 

Ariquipa.     Ath. 
Arikara.      -> 
Arikaree.    }  Cad' 
Aripa.      Yma. 
Arispa.     Pirn.  ? 
Arivaipa.     Ath. 


Arkansa.     Siu. 
Arra-arra.     Qor. 
Arvillirmiut.     M.  Esk. 
Aseguang.     Skit. 
Ashochimi.      Yuk. 
Asomoches.     Alq. 
Assinaboin.     Siu. 
Assinai.     Cad. 
Assiwikales.     Alq. 
Astina.     Tim. 
Ataakut.     Ath. 
Atakwa.     E.  Siu. 
Atai.     Ada. 
Ateacari.     Nah. 
Atfalati.     Kal. 
Athabascan.     Ath. 
Athapacca.     Ath. 
Athapasca.     Ath. 
ATHAPASCAN.    Ath. 
Atka.     Alu.  Esk. 
Atnah  (i).     Salh. 
Atnah  (2).     Ath. 
Atore.     Tim. 
Attacapa.     Att. 
ATTACAPAN.    Att. 
Atuamih.     Pal. 
Auk.     Kols. 
Awani.     Mo. 
Axion.     Alq. 
Ayankeld.     Kal. 
Ayapai.     Mar. 
Ayhuttisaht.      Wak. 
Aztec.     Nah. 

Babiocora.     Pirn. 
Backhooks.     E.  Siu. 
Baiyu.     Puj. 
Ball6Kai  Porno.    Kuln. 
Baluxa.     E.  Siu. 
Bannock.     Sho. 
Basirora.     Pirn. 


466 


The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


Basis  a.     Tim. 
Batemdikdyi.    Kuln. 
Batucari.     Pint. 
Batuco.     Pirn. 
Beaver.     Ath. 
Belbellah.      Wak. 
Bellacoola.     Salh. 
Benixouo.     Zap. 
Beotbuk.     Beo. 
BEOTHUKAN.    Beo. 
Bethuck.     Beo. 
Biara.     Pirn. 
Bilkula.     Salh. 
Biloxi.    E.  Siu. 
Binukhsh.     Siu. 
Blackfeet.      Siu.      (See 

Sihasapa.) 
Blackfeet.      Alq.     (See 

Siksika.) 

Blood  Indians.     Alq. 
Boka.     Puj. 
Bollanos.     Mo. 
Braba.     Pbl. 
Brule.     Siu. 
Bulbul.     Ulv. 
Buldam  Porno.     Kuln. 

Cacalote.     Coh. 
Cachopostate.     Coh. 
Cacores.     E.  Siu. 
Cadapouce.     E.  Siu. 
Caddo.     Cad. 
CADDOAN.     Cad. 
Cadica.     Tim. 
Cahita.     Pirn. 
Cahokia.     Alq. 
Cahrok.     Qor. 
Cahuillo.     Sho. 
Cailloux.      Wlp. 
Cajono.     Zap. 
Cakchiquel.     My. 
Calabaw.     E.  Siu. 
Calanay.     Tim. 
Calapooya.     Kal. 
Canai.     Alq. 
Caniba.     Alq. 
Canaway.     Alq. 


Capaha.     Siu. 
Cape  Fear.     E.  Siu. 
Carcha.     Ulv. 

:arib.     Crb. 
CARIBBEAN.     Crb. 
Carrizo.     Coh. 

:asa  Chiquita.     Coh. 

:asa  Grande.     Pbl. 

lasas  Graudes.     Pbl. 

Cascade.    Chik. 
Casti.     Tim. 
Catajano.     Coh. 
Catawba.     E.  Siu. 
Cathlamet.     Chik. 
Cathlapotle.     Chik. 
Cathlascon.      Chik. 
Cattoway.     E.  Siu. 
Caughnawaga.     Ir. 
Cayuga.     Ir. 
Cayuse.     Wlp. 
Cenis.     Cad. 
Ceri.     Yma. 
Chaco  (Ruins).     Pbl. 
Chahta.     Mus. 
Chainimaini.     Mar. 

Chalca.     Nah. 

Chalquefio.     Nah. 

Chamule.     My. 

Chaneabal.     My. 

Changuaguane.     Ath. 

Chapa.     Cpn. 

Chapanec.     Cpn. 

CHAPANECAN.     Cpn. 

Charack.     Siu. 

Charaeo.     Ot. 

Charense.     Ot. 

Chasta  Costa.     Ath. 

Chata.     Mus. 

Chatcheeni.     Skit. 

Chatino.     Zap. 

Cbaucbila.     Mo. 

Cbawisbek.     Kuln. 

Cbay  opine.     Coh. 

Cbebalis.     Salh. 

Cbelamela.    Kal. 

Cbele.    My. 

Cbelekee.     Ir. 


Cbemehuevi.     Sho. 
Cbenposel.     Cop. 
Cbepewyau.     Ath. 
Cberaw.     E.  Siu. 


Cbetco.     Ath. 
Cbeyenne.     Alq. 
bia.     Pbl. 
bicasa.     Mus. 
:bicben  Itza.     My. 
:bicbilticalli.     Pbl. 
Cbicbimec.     Gp. 
Cbicbominy.     Alq.  ? 
Cbickasaw.     Mus. 
Cbicklesabt.      Wak. 
Cbicora.     Cso. 
Cbiglit.     A  Ik.  Esk. 
Cbikakokim.     Alq. 
Cbikaree.     E.  Siu. 
Cbikelaki.     Alq. 
Cbilicotbe.     Alq. 
Chilili.     Tim. 
Cbilkat.     Kols. 
Cbilluckquittequaw. 

Chik. 

Cbillula.      Wei. 
Cbilpain.     Ath. 
CHIMAKUAN.     Chi. 
Cbimakum.     Chi. 
Cbimalakwe.     Chrk. 
Cbitnalapa.     Zo. 
Cbimalapas.     Zo. 
Cbimalpanec.     Nah. 
CHIMARIKAN.     Chrk. 
Cbimariko.     Chrk. 
CHIMMESYAN.     Chyn. 
Cbimsian. 
Cbimsyan. 
CHINANTECAN.     Cit. 
Cbinanteco.     Cit. 
Cbinarra.     Nah. 
Cbinipa.     Pini. 
Cbinook.     Chik. 
CHINOOKAN.     Chik. 
Cbinquirae.     Zo. 
Cbipeway.     Alq. 
Cbippewa.     Alq. 


Appendix 


467 


Chippewyan.     Ath. 
Chiricahua.     Ath. 
Chiroehaka.     Ir. 
Chitimacha.     Cht, 
CHITIMACHAN.     CM. 
Choam  Chadila   Porno. 

Kuln. 

Chochona.     Zap. 
Choctaw.     Mus. 
Chokuyem.     Mo. 
Chole.     My. 
Cholupaha.     Tim. 
Chontal  (i).     Gp. 
Chontal  (2).     My. 
Chontal  (3).      Tqs. 
Chopunnish.     Shap. 
Chorotega.     Cpn. 
Chorti.     My. 
Chowanoc.     Alq. 
Choya.     Tim. 
Chozetta.     E.  Siu. 
Christarma.     E.  Siu. 
Chuchaca.     Kers. 
Chuchona.     Zap. 
Chugachigmiut.     A  Ik. 

Esk. 

Chukaimina.     Mar. 
Chukchansi.     Mar. 
Chumash.     Chm. 
CHUMASHAN.     Chm. 
Chumawa.     Pal. 
Chumaya.      Yuk. 
Chumidok.     Mo. 
Chumteya.     Mo. 
Ctmmtiwa.     Mo. 
Chumuch.     Mo. 
Chumwit.     Mo. 
Chunut.     Mar. 
Chwachamaju.     Kuln. 
Cia.     Pbl. 
Cicumovi.     Ho. 
Cicuye.     Pbl. 
Cimopavi.     Ho. 
Cipaulovi.     Ho. 
Clackama.     Chik. 
Clahoquaht.      Wak. 
Clallam.     Sal  A. 


Clamets.     Lut. 
Clatsop.     Chik. 
Clickass.     Skit. 
Cliff-Dwellers.     Pbl. 
Clowetsus.     Wak. 

COAHUII/TECAN.        Coh. 

Coahuilteco.    Coh. 
Coaquilenes.     Coh. 
Cochimi.      Yma. 
Cochiti.     Kers. 
Coco.     Ulv. 
Cocomaricopa.      Yma. 
Cocome.     My. 
Coconino.      Yma. 
Coconun.     Mar. 
Cocopa.      Yma. 
Creur  d'Alene.     Salh. 
Coguinache.     Pirn. 
Cohonino.     Yma. 
Cohuixca.     Nah. 
Colotlan.     Nah. 
Colouse.     Cop. 
Colville.     Salh. 
Comanche.    Sho. 
Combahee.     Cso. 
Comecrudo.     Coh. 
Comeya.     Yma. 
Comiteco.     My. 
Comopari.     Pirn. 
Comupatrico.     Pirn.  ? 
Comuripa.     Pirn. 
Comux.    Salh. 
Concho  (i).     Yma. 
Concho  (2).     Coh. 
Conestoga.     Ir. 
Confitachiqui.     Uch. 
Congaree.     E.  Siu. 
Coninos.      Yma. 
Conoy.     Alq. 
Cook-koo-oose.     Kus. 
Cooniac.     Chik. 
Coosa.       Un.      Mus.  ? 

Cso.  ? 

Cootenai.     Kit. 
Copal  is.     Salh. 
Copan.     My. 
Copeh.     Cop. 


COPEHAN.     Cop. 
Coquilth.     Wak. 
Cora.     Pirn. 
Coraru.     Nah. 
Coree.     Ir.  ? 
Corsaboy.     Cso. 
Coshatta.     Mus. 
Cosninos.      Yma. 
Costano.     Cost. 
COSTANOAN.     Cost. 
Cotober.     E.  Siu. 
Cotoname.     Coh. 
Coutani.     Kit. 
Covisca.     Zo. 
Covisco.     Zo. 
Cowichin.    Salh. 
Cowlitz.     Salh. 
Coyotero.     Ath. 
Cree.     Alq. 
Creek.     Mus. 
Crow.     Siu. 
Cuchan.     Yma. 
Cuicateco.     Zap. 
Cuitlateco.     Nah. 
Culua.     Nah. 
Cutnshawa.     Skit. 
Cufiopavi.     Ho. 
Cusabo.     Cso. 
CUSABOAN.  Cso. 
Cushna.     Puj. 
Cusso.     Cso. 
Cuthead.    Siu. 
Cuttawa.     E.  Siu. 

Dahox-tena.     Ath. 
Dakota.     Siu. 
Dakubetede.     Ath. 
Ddpishul  Porno.   Kuln. 
Daupom.     Cop. 
Delamateno.     Ir. 
Delaware.     Alq. 
Didja-Za.     Zap. 
Diegueno.      Yma. 
Digger.     Gp. 
Digothi.     Ath. 
Dirian.     Cpn. 
Doeg.     Alq. 


468 


The   North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


Dog  Rib.     Ath. 
Dob  me.     Pirn. 
Dowaganha.     Alq. 
Dwatnish.     Salh. 

Eastern  People.     Kuln. 
Eataubau.     Sin. 
Echeloot.     Chik. 
Edelano.     Tim. 
Edisto.     Cso. 
Ebiamana.      Tim. 
Ehnek.     Qor. 
EkSg'mint.    Alk.  Esk. 
Eloquale.     Tim. 
Enecaqua.     Tim. 
Eno.     E.  Sitt. 
Erie.     Ir. 
Erio.     Kuln. 
Eriworieck. 
Ertissi.     Kuln. 
Esaw.     E.  Siu. 

ESKIMAUAN.      Esk. 

Eskimo.     Esk. 
Eskin.     Puj. 
Esopus.     Alq. 
Esquimaux.     Esk. 
Esselen.     Ess. 
ESSELENIAN.     Ess. 
Estakewach.     Pal. 
Etchemin.     Alq. 
Etiwaw.     )    _ 
Entaw.      f  CSO' 
Euchre  Creek.    Ath. 
Eudeve.     Pirn. 
iSuksbikni.     Lut. 
Eurok.     Wei. 

Faraone.     Ath. 
Flachbogen.     Kit. 
Flanahaskie.     E.  Siu. 
Flatbow.     Kit. 
Flathead(i).     E.  Siu. 
Flathead(2).    Salh. 
Flathead-Cootenai. 

Kit. 

Flonk'o.     Ath. 
Fox.     Alq. 


Gallinomreo.     Kuln. 
Gauawese.     Alq. 
Gaspesian.     Alq. 
Gileno.     Ath. 
Gobunes.      Yma. 
Gosiute.     Sho. 
Grand  Pawnee.     Cad. 
Gros  Veutres.     Siu. 
Guaicuru.     Yma. 
Guailopo.     Pirn. 
Guajiquero.     Ln. 
Gualala.     Kuln. 
Guatuso.     Gua. 
GUATUSOAN.     Gua. 
Guaymas.     Pirn. 
Guazapari.     Nah. 
Guetares.     Cpn. 
Guilito.     Cop. 
Guimen.     Mo. 
Gyidesdzo.     Chyn. 
Gyitgaata.     Chyn. 
Gyi  tksan .     Chyn . 
Gyitqatla.     Chyn. 
Gyitsalaser.     Chyn. 
Gyitsumralon.     Chyn. 

Haeltzuk.     Wak. 
Haida.     Skit. 
Hailtzuk.      Wak. 
Haisbilla.      Wak. 
Hammonasset.     Alq. 
Hanabaskies.     Siu. 
Hanega.     Kols. 
Hano.     Tan. 
Hanocoroucouay.    Tim. 
Hantewa.     Pal. 
Hapaluya.      Tim. 
Hare.     Ath. 
Hasatcb.     Kers. 
Hasinniuga.     E.  Siu. 
Hatteras.     Alq. 
Havasupai.     Yma. 
Helto.     Puj. 
Hemes.     Tan. 
Hettitoya.     Mo. 
Heve.     Pirn. 
Hicaranaou.      Tim. 


Hicbucios.     Pirn. 
Hidatsa.     Siu. 
Himeri.     Pirn. 
Hiouacara.      Tim. 
Hirribiqua.     Tim. 
Hisbquayquabt.    Wak. 
Hitcbitee.     Mus. 
Hizo.     Pirn. 
Hoak.     Puj. 
Hoankut.     Puj. 
Hololupai.     Puj. 
Homolua.      Tim. 
Hoodsunu.     Kols. 
Hoopab.     Ath. 
Hopi.     Ho. 
HOPITAN.     Ho. 
Hopitu.     Ho. 
Howakan.     Skit. 
Howcbuklisabt.     Wak. 
Hualapai.      Yma. 
Huasteca.     My. 
HUAVAN.     Hua. 
Huaves.    Hua. 
Huaztonteco.     Hua. 
Huecos.     Cad. 
Huicbol.     Nah. 
Huite.     Nah. 
Huma. 
Hume. 
Humawhi.     Pal. 
Hunab.     Kols. 
Hupa.     Ath. 
Huron.     Ir. 
Husky.     Esk. 
Husorone.     Pirn. 
Hutcbuom.     Yuk. 
Hydab.     Skit. 

Igdlolnarsuk.    Gr.  Esk. 
Iglulingmiut.     M.  Esk. 
Ikogmiut.     Alk.  Esk. 
Illinois.     Alq. 
Ilmawi.    Pal. 
Imabklimiut.      Alk. 

Esk. 
Ingubklimiut.      Alk. 

Esk. 


Nah. 


Appendix 


469 


Innies.     Cad. 
Innuit.     Esk. 
Iowa.     Siu. 
Ipapapan .      Tot. 
IROQUOIAN.    Ir. 
Iroquois.     Ir. 
Isantei.     Siu. 
Isleta,  New  Mex.     Tan, 
Isleta,  Texas.     Tan. 
Issa.     E.  Siu. 
Iswa.     E.  Siu. 
Itafi.     Tim. 
Itara.      Tim. 
Itaziptco.     Siu. 
Ititcha.     Mar. 
Itivimiut.     Lab.  Esk. 
Itza.     My. 
Ivimiut.     Gr.  Esk. 
Ixil.     My. 

Janos.     Ath. 
Jaripecha.     Tar. 
Jemez.     Tan. 
Jicarilla.     Ath. 
Jocolabal.     My. 
Jonaz.     Ot. 
Jope.     Zo. 
Joshua.     Ath. 

Kabinapek.     Kuln. 
Kadapaw.     E.  Siu. 
Kagutl.      Wak. 
Kaialigmiut.  Alk.Esk. 
Kaigani.     Skit. 
Kaime".     Kuln. 
Kaiowe.     Kio. 
Kai  Porno.     Kuln. 
Kaivavitz.     Sho. 
Kaiyuh-khotana.     Alh. 
Kakamatsis.      Wak. 
KAI^APOOIAN.    Kal. 
Kalapuya.     Kal. 
Kaltsuerea  tunne.  Ath. 
Kamalel  Porno.     Kuln. 
Kangivamiut.     Lab. 

Esk. 
Kaugmaligmiut.     Alk. 

Esk. 


Kaugormiut.     M.  Esk. 
Kani.     Mo. 

Kaniagmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 
Kansa.     Siu. 
Karankawa.     Kar. 
KARANKAWAN.     Kar. 
Karok.     Qor. 
Karsuit.    Gr.  Esk. 
Kaskaskia.    Alq. 
Kassooo.     Mar. 
Kassovo.     Mar. 
Kastel  Porno.     Kuln. 
Kasua.     Sli. 
Katchan.      Yma. 
Kato  Porno.     Kuln. 
Kauia.     Mar. 
Kaulits.     Salh. 
Kaus.     Kus. 
Kauvuyas.     Sho. 
Kaviagmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 
Kaw.     Siu. 
Kaweah.     Mar. 
Kaweya.     Mo. 
Kawiasuh.     Sho. 
Kayowe.     Kio. 
Kayuug.     Skit. 
Kcaltana.     Ath. 
Kechemeches.     Alq. 
Kechis.     Sho. 
Keimanoeitoh.      Wak. 
Kek.     Kols. 
Kelta.     Un.,  Ath.  ? 
Kemisak.     Gr.  Esk. 
Kenai.     Ath. 
Kenay.     Ath. 
Kenesti.     Ath. 
Kera.     Kers. 
Keres.     Kers. 
KERESAN.  Kers. 
Keswhawhay.     Ker. 
Keyauwee.  E.  Siu. 
Kiawaw.     Cso. 
K'iapkwainakwin. 

Zun. 

Kiawetni.     Mar. 
Kichai.     Cad. 
Kickapoo.      Alq. 


Kiguaqtagmiut.     Lab. 

Esk. 

Kikapoo.     Alq. 
Kikkertarsoak.     Gr. 

Esk. 

Killamuk.     Salh. 
Kinarbik.     Gr.  Esk. 
Kingnaitmiut.  M.  Esk. 
King's  River.     Mat. 
Kinnepatu.     M.  Esk. 
Kiowa.     Kio. 
KIOWAN.     Kio. 
Kio  way.     Kio. 
Kisani.     Pbl. 
Kiscapocoke.     Alq. 
Kitsmaht.      Wak. 
Kittegareut.    Alk.Esk. 
Kittuwa.     Jr. 

KlTUNAHAN.      Kit. 

Kizh.     Sho. 
Klallam.     Salh. 
Klamath  (i).     Lut. 
Klamath  (2).      Wei. 
Klanoh-Klatklam.  Kit. 
Klaokwat.      Wak. 
Klenekate.     Kols. 
Klikitat.     Shap. 
K'naia-khotona.     Ath. 
Knik.     Ath. 
Knisteneau.     Alq. 
Koasati.     Mus. 
Koloma.     Puj. 
Kolomum.     Puj. 
Kolosch.     Kols. 
KOUJSCHAN.    Kols. 
Komacho.    Kuln. 
Kombo.     Un.,  Yan.  ? 
Komuk.     Salh. 
Konjagen.     Esk.  f 
Konkau.     Puj. 
Kootenai.     Kit. 
Kopagmiut.    Alk.  Esk. 
Kope.     Cop. 
Korusi.     Cop. 
Kouksoarmiut.     Lab. 

Esk. 
Kowagmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 


470  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Kowelits.     Salh. 
Kowilth.      Wish. 
Koyukukhotana.     Ath. 
Kramalit.     M.  Esk. 
Kuagmiut.     Alk.  Esk. 
Kuchin.     Ath. 
Kuitc.      Ykn. 
Kula  Kai  Porno.  Kuln. 
KUI,ANAPAN.     Kuln. 
Kulanapo.     Kuln. 
Kulmeh.     Puj. 
Kulomum.     Puj. 
Kung.     Skit. 
Kunxit.    Skit. 
Kupule.     My. 
Kusa.    Kus. 
KUSAN.     Kus. 
Kuscarawock.     Alq. 
Kuskwogmiut.         Alk. 

Esk. 

Kutani.     Kit. 
Kutcha-Kutchin'.  Ath. 
Kutclian.     Yma. 
Kutchin'.     Ath. 
Kutenay.     Kit. 
Kwaiantikwoket.     Sho. 
Kwakiutl.      Wak. 
Kwalhioqua.     Ath. 
Kwantlen.     Salh. 
Kwapa.     Siu. 
Kvvashilla.     Wak. 
Kwat6a.     Puj. 
Kwazami.     Ath. 
Kwikhpagmiut.     Alk. 

Esk. 

Kwokwoos.     Kus. 
Kyoquaht.      Wak. 

Lacandon.     My. 
Laguna.     Kers. 
Laimono.      Yma. 
Lakmiut     Kal. 
Lama.     Kuln. 
Las'sik.     Cop. 
Leaf-shooters.     Siu. 
Lenape*.     Alq. 
Lenca.     Ln. 


LENCAN.     Ln. 
Leuni-Lenape.     Alq. 
Likatuit.     Mo. 
Likwiltoh.      Wak. 
Lilowat.     Salh. 
Lipan.     Ath. 
Liwaito.     Cop. 
Llanero.     Ath. 
Loldla.     Cop. 
Lolon'kuk.     Ath. 
Lolsel.     Cop. 
Long  Island.     Alq. 
Long  Valley.     Sho. 
Lopolatimne.     Mo. 
Loucheux.     Ath. 
Lower  Coquille.     Kus. 
Lucururu.     Tim. 
Lummi.    Salh. 
Lutuami.     Lut. 
LUTUAMIAN.     Lut. 

Macaw.      Wak. 
Machapuuga.     Alq. 
Machaua.     Tim. 
Machemni.     Mo. 
Machemoodus.     Alq. 
M  acock.     Alq 
Magemiut.     Alk.  Esk. 
Mahican.     Alq. 
Mahlemiut.     Alk.  Esk. 
Mahoc.     Un.,E.Siu.? 
Maidu.     Puj. 
Mai  era.      Tim. 
Makah.      Wak. 
Makhelchel.     Cop. 
Malaka.     Cop. 
Malica.     Tim. 
Maliseet.     Alq. 
Mam.     My. 
Mamaleilakitish.    Wak. 
Manahoac.     E.  Siu. 
Mauakin.     E.  Siu. 
Man  dan.     Siu. 
Maneetsuk.     Gr.  Esk. 
Mangoac.     Ir. 
Maugue.     Cpn. 
Manhattan.     Alq. 


Mano  de  perro.     Coh.. 
Manosaht.      Wak. 
Mantese.     Alq. 
Mareschit.     Alq. 
Maricopa.      Yma. 
Mariposa.     ]\[ar. 
MARIPOSAN.     Mar. 
Marracou.      Tim. 
Mascoutin.     Alq. 
Maskegon.     Alq. 
Maskoki.     Mus. 
Massachuset.     Alq. 
Massawomek.     //-. 
Massett.     Skit. 
Massinacak.     E.  Siu. 
Matagalpan.      Un. 
Matapane.     Pirn. 
Matelpa.      Wak. 
Mathaica.      Tim. 
Matlaltzinco.     Ot. 
Matlame.     Ot. 
Mattamuskeet.     Alq. 
Mattapouy.     Alq. 
Mattoal.     Ath. 
Mauvais-Monde.     Ath. 
Maya.     My. 
MAYAN.     My. 
Mayapan.     My. 
Maya-Quiche.     My. 
Mayarca.      Tim. 
May  ay  u.     Mar. 
Mayo.     Pirn. 
Mazahua.     Ot. 
Mazapil.     Nah. 
Mazateco.     Zap. 
Mecos.     Ot. 
Meewoc.     Mo. 
Mehemencho.     E.  Siu. 
Meherriu.     Ir. 
Meidoo.     Puj. 
Meipontsky.     E.  Siu. 
Melchora.     Ulv. 
Meliseet.     Alq. 
Melona.     Tim. 
Melukitz.     Kus. 
Mengwe.     Ir. 
Menominee.     Alq. 


Appendix 


Mequachake.     Alq. 
Mescal.     Coh. 
Mescal  ero.     Ath. 
Met' how.     Salh. 
Mexicana.     Nah. 
Meztitlateca.     Nah. 
Miakan.     Coh. 
Miami.     Alq. 
Michoa.     Tar. 
Michopdo.     Puj. 
Micikqwutme       tunne. 

Ath. 

Micmac.     Alq. 
Mico.      Ulv. 
Micoiiinovi.     Ho. 
Mije.     Zo. 

Mikono  tunne.     Ath. 
Mimbreiio.     Ath. 
Mingo.     Ir. 
Minisink.     Alq. 
Minitaree.     Siu. 
Minneconjou.     Siu. 
Minsi.     Alq. 
Misdlamagun.     Kuln. 
Mishougnovi.     Ho. 
Misisauga.     Alq. 
Missouri.     Siu. 
Mita.      Wei. 
Mitodm      Kai       Porno. 

Kuln. 

Mi  wok.     Mo. 
Mixe.     Zo. 
Mixtec.     Zap. 
Mixteca-Zapoteca.  Zap. 
Moau'auzi.     Sho. 
Moapariats.     Sho. 
Mobilian.     Mus. 
Mochilagua.     Pirn.  ? 
Mocoso.     Tim. 
Mocossou.      Tim. 
Moctoby.     E.  Siu. 
Modoc.     Lut. 
Modokui.     Lut. 
Mogollon.     Ath. 
Mohave.      Yma. 
Mohawk.     Ir. 
Mohegan.     Alq. 


Mohetan.     E.  Siu. 
Mohican.     Alq.  f 
Mokelutnni.     Mo. 
Moki.     Ho. 
Molale.      Wlp. 
Molua.     Tim. 
Monachi.     Sho. 
Monagan.     E.  Siu. 
Monahasanugh.  E.  Siu. 
Monasiccapano.  E.Siu. 
Mono.     Sho. 
Monocan.     E.  Siu. 
Monqui.      Yma. 
Monsey.     Alq. 
Monsoni.     Alq. 
Montagu ais  (i).   Ath. 
Montagnais  (2).     Alq. 
Montagnard.     Ath. 
Montauk.     Alq. 
Moose.     Alq. 
Moosonee.     Alq. 
Mopan.     My. 

MOQUEXUMNAN.      Mo. 

Moquelumne.    Mo. 
Moquis.     Ho. 
Moscoso.     Tim. 
Mosilian.     Alq. 
Moundbuilder.        Com 
posite.     Gp.> 
Mowachat.      Wak. 
Mowhemcho.     E.  Siu. 
Muclaht.      Wak. 
Muctobi.     E.  Siu. 
Mukaluk.     Lut. 
Mulluck.     Kus. 
Multnoma.     Chik. 
Munsee.     Alq. 
Musakakun.     Kuln. 

MUSKHOGEAN.      MUS. 

Muskhogee.     Mus. 
Muskoki.     Mus. 
Musquito.   Un. 
Mutsun.     Mo. 
Muutzizti.     Pirn. 

Naas.  Gp. ,  Chyn.,Salh.  f 
Nachitoches.     Cad. 


Nacu.     Kus.  ? 
Nadowessiwag.     Siu. 
Nagailer.     Ath. 
Nageuktormiut.    M. 

Esk. 

Nahauni.     Ath. 
Nahsuzi.     Pbl. 
Na'htchi.     Nat. 
Nahua.     Nah. 
Nahuatl.     Nah. 
NAHUATI,AN.     Nah. 
Nahuatleca.     Nah. 
Nahyssan.     E.  Siu. 
Na-isha.     Ath. 
Naktche.     Nat. 
Nakum.     Puj. 
Nakwahtoh.      Wak. 
Naltun  netunne.     Ath. 
Nambe.     Tan. 
Nanaimo.     Salh. 
Nanoos.    Salh. 
Nantic.     Alq. 
Nanticoke.     Alq. 
Naolingo.      Tot. 
Napa  (i).     Cop. 
Napa  (2).      Yuk. 
Napetuca.      Tim. 
Narraganset.     Alq. 
Narsuk.     Gr.  Esk. 
Nascapee.     Alq. 
Nasqud.     Chyn. 
Nataco.     Cad. 
Natches.     Nat. 
NATCH  ESAN.    Nat. 
Natchez.     Nat. 
Natchitoches.     Cad. 
Natowek.     Ir. 
Natowesieux.     Siu. 
Natsit-Kutchin'.     Ath. 
Naugatuck.     Alq. 
Nauset.     Alq. 
Navaho. 
Navajo. 
Nawiti.     Wak. 
Nayerit.     Pirn. 
Nehalim.     Salh. 
Nehantic.     Alq. 


472  The   North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Nehaunee.     Ath. 

Nuncock.     Siu. 

Nehethawa.     Alq. 

Nunivagmiut.           Alk. 

Nenenot.     Alq. 

Esk. 

Nespelum.     Salh. 

Nuntaly.  Un.,  E.  Siu.  ? 

Netchillirmiut.  M.Esk. 

Nuntaneuck.    £/»..,  E. 

Netela.     Sho. 

Siu.  ? 

Netzicho.     Zap. 

Nusdalum.     Salh. 

Neusiok.     Alq.  ? 

Nusbagagmiut.        Alk. 

Neuter.     Ir. 

Esk. 

Nevome.     Sho. 

Nusulpb.     Salh. 

New  Gold  Harbour. 

Nutcbu.     Mo. 

Skit. 

Nutba.     Sho. 

Newicbumni.     Mo. 

Nutka.      Wak. 

Nez  Perce.     Shap. 

Nuwungmiut.          Alk. 

Nicaraos.     Nah. 

Esk. 

Nicassias.     Mo. 

Nicoutamucb.     Salh. 

Oatbcaqua.      Tint. 

Nibalotb.     Chik. 

Occaneecbi.     E.  Siu. 

Nikonba.     E.  Siu. 

Ocbingita.     Mar. 

Nimkisb.      Wak. 

Ocotlano.     Zap. 

Nipissing.     Alq. 

Oenock.     E.  Siu. 

Nipmuc.     Alq. 

Ogalalla.      1    &. 

Nipnet.     Alq. 

Ogldla.         / 

Niquiran.     Nah. 

Oglemiut.     Alk.  Esk. 

Nishinam.     Puj. 

Obiat.      Wak. 

Nisqualli.     Salh. 

Ojadagocbroene.     E. 

Nitinabt.      Wak. 

Siu. 

Niwiti.      Wak. 

Ojibwa.     Alq. 

Noema.     Cop. 

Okaboki.     Alq. 

Noje.      Van. 

Okeeogmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 

Nomlaki.     Cop. 

Okinagan.     Salh. 

Nommuk.     Cop. 

Okkiosorbik.    Gr.  Esk. 

Nootka.      Wak. 

Okomiut.     M.  Esk. 

Norelmuk.     Cop. 

Olamentke.     Mo. 

Normuk.     Cop. 

Olelato.     Cop. 

Nor  ridge  wock.     Alq. 

Olbone.     Mo. 

Notcbee.     Nat. 

Olla.     Puj. 

Notodtiaiti.     Mar. 

Olineca.     Un.,  Mex. 

Nottoway.     Ir. 

Olowidok.     Mo. 

Noyuki.     Cop. 

Olowit.     Mo. 

Nozi.      Yma. 

Olowiya.     Mo. 

Nucbalabt.      Wak. 

Olposel.     Cop. 

Nugumiut.     M.  Esk. 

Oluldto.     Cop. 

Nuksabk.     Salh. 

Olumpali.     Mo. 

Numpali.     Mo. 

Omaha.     Siu. 

Num'su.     Cop. 

Onatbcaqua.     Tim. 

Nunatogmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 

Onava.     Pint. 

Oneida.     Ir. 
Onocbaquara.     Tim. 
Onondaga.     Ir. 
Ontponas.     E.  Siu. 
Oobenopa.     Siu. 
Opata.     Pint. 
Opatoro.     Ln. 
Opecbisabt.      Wak. 
Openango.     Alq. 
Opubnarke.     Alq. 
Oraibe.     Ho. 
Orariau.     Alk.  Esk. 
Orejone.     Coh. 
Orista.     Cso. 

Orotioa-      \CPn. 
Orotman.    J 

Osage.     Siu. 
Osile.     Tim. 
Otaki.     Puj. 
Otari.     Ir. 
Otayacbgo.     Alq. 


Oto. 


Siu. 


Otoe. 
Otomi.     Ot. 
OTOMIA.N.     Ot. 
Ottawa.     Alq. 
Oundngan.     Esk. 
Oustaca.     Tim. 
Owilapsb.     Alh. 

Paanese.     E.  Siu. 
Paboksa.     Siu. 
Pacaos.     Coh. 
Pachenaht.      Wak. 
Pacbera.     Pirn. 
Pacuacbe.     Coh. 
Padlimiut.     M.  Esk. 
Paduca.     Gp. 
Paguate.     Kers. 
Pah  Ute.    ^ 
Pai  Ute.      [  Sho. 
Paiuti.        J 
Pajalate.     Coh. 
Pakamalli.     Pal.  ? 
Pakawd.     Coh. 
Palaibuib.     Pal. 

PAI.AIHNIHAN.      Pal. 


Appendix 


473 


Palaik.     Pal. 
Palenque.     My. 
Paleumni.     Sho. 
Palligawonap.     Sho. 
Paloos.     Shap. 
Paluxsi.     E.  Siu. 
Patnaque.     Coh. 
Pamawaioc.     Alq. 
Fame.     Ot. 
Pamlico.     Alq. 
Pampopa.     Coh. 
Pamticoke.     Alq. 
Pamunkey.     Alq. 
Paul.     Cad. 
Panpakan.     Puj. 
Pantasma.     Ulv. 
Panteco.     My. 
Papabuco.     Zap. 
Papago.     Pirn. 
Parrastah.     Ulv. 
Paskagula.     Siu. 
Pasquotank.     Alq. 
Passamaquoddi.     Alq. 
Pastancoya.     Coh. 
Patacale.     Coh. 
Patawat.      Wish. 
Patdwe 
Patchdwe 
Pat  chic  a.      Tim. 
Patshenin.     E.  Siu. 
Pat  win.     Cop. 
Paugusset.     Alq. 
Paupak  an .     Puj. 
Pausane.     Coh. 
Pavant.     Sho. 
Paviotso.     Sho. 
Pawnee.     Cad. 
Pay  a.     Un. 
Payseya.     Coh. 
Pea.     Alq. 
Pecos.     Pol. 
Pedee.     E.  Siu. 
Pehtsik.     Qor. 
Pekwan.      Wei. 
Pend  d'Oreille.     Salh. 
Penobscot.     Alq. 
Pennacook.     Alq. 


}   Cop. 


Pentlash. 
Pentlatc. 
Peoria.     Alq. 
Pequot.     Alq. 
Pericu.      Yma. 
Perquiman.     Alq. 
Peten.     My. 
Piankishaw.     Alq. 
Picuris.     Tan. 
Pi  Ede.     Sho. 
Piegan.     Alq. 
Pihique.     Coh. 
Pilingmiut.     M.  Esk. 
Pi  ma.     Pint. 
PIMAN.     Pirn. 
Pinal  Coyotero.     Ath. 
Pinome.     Zo. 
Pintahae.     E.  Siu. 
Pipile.     Sho. 
Piqua.     Alq. 
Pirinda.     Ot. 
Piros.     Tan. 
Piscataway.     Alq. 
Pisquow.     Salh. 
Pitkachi.     Mar. 
Pitt  River.     Pal. 
Pi  Ute.     Sho. 
Poam  Porno.     Kuln. 
Pocomtock.     Alq. 
Poduuk.     Alq. 
Poelo.     Sho. 
Pohdllin  Tinleh.     Mar. 
Pohonichi.     Mo. 
Pojoaque.     Tan. 
Pokomam.     My. 
Pokonchi.     My. 
Poluksalgi.     E.  Siu. 
Porno.     Kuln. 
Pomouik.     Alq. 
Ponca.     Siu. 
Ponderay.     Salh. 
Popoluca.     Gp.,  Mex. 
Poquonnoc.     Alq. 
Potanou.     Tim. 
Poteskeet.     Alq. 
Potlapigua.     Pirn. 
Pottawatomi.     Alq. 


Pottawattomi.     Alq. 
Powhattan.     Alq. 
Pueblito.     Kers. 
Pueblo.     Pbl. 
PUEBI,OAN.     Pbl. 
Pujunan.     Puj. 
Pujuni.     Puj. 
Pulairih.     Pal. 
Punyeestye.     Kers. 
Punyekia.    Kers. 
Pusityitcho.     Kers. 
Pusuna.     Puj. 
Putum.     My. 
Puyallup.     Salh. 

Qagutl.      Wak. 
Qaumauangmiut.        M. 

Esk. 

Qinguamiut.     M.  Esk. 
Quaitso.     Salh. 
Quapaw.     Siu. 
Quatquiutl.     Wak. 
Quatsino.      Wak. 
Ouekchi.     My. 
Queniut.     Salh. 
Oueptlmamish.     Salh. 
Ouerechos.     Un.,  Sho.  ? 
Queres.     Kers. 
Quiahanless.     Skit. 
Quiche.     My. 
Quile-Ute.     Chi. 
Quinnebaug.     Alq. 
Quinnipiac.     Alq. 
Quinpi.     Alq. 
Quivira.     Un.,  Siu.  ? 
Quoddy.     Alq. 
QUORATEAN.     Qor. 
Quoratem.     Qor. 
Qwinctunnetun.      Ath. 

Rama.     Un. 
Ramapoo.     Alq. 
Ramcock.     Alq. 
Reho.     Un.,  Cali. 
Republican   Pawnee. 

Cad. 
Riccaree.     Cad. 


474  The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Rickohockan.     Ir. 

Rikwa.      Wei. 

Rogue     River.         Ath, 

and  Tak. 
Runsien.     Gp. 
Rurok.      Wei. 

Saagit.      Wei. 

Sabaquis.     Pint. 

Sabaibo.     Nah. 

Sac.     Alq. 

Sac  and  Fox.     Alq. 

Sacumehu.     Salh. 

Sagdlirmiut.     M.  Esk. 

Saharipa.     Pirn. 

Sahewamish.    Salh. 

Sahkey.     Alq. 

Saiaz.     Ath. 

Saidyuka.     Sho. 

Saint  Regis.     Ir. 

Saiwash.     Sas. 

Sakaiakumni.     Mo. 

SALINAN.    Sli. 

Salish.     Salh. 

SALISHAN.    Salh. 

Saluda.    Alq.  ? 

Samamish.     Salh. 

Samish.     Salh. 

San  Antonio.     Un. 

Sandia.     Tan. 

Sanetch.     Salh. 

San  Felipe.     Kers. 

Sanhican.     Alq. 

San  Ildefonso.     Tan. 

Sanipao.     Con. 

San  Juan.     Tan. 

San  Juan  de  Guacara. 
Tim. 

San  Mateo.     Tim. 

San  Rafael.     Mo. 

Sans  Arcs.     Siu. 

Sans  Puell.    Salh. 

Santa  Ana.     Kers. 

Santa  Barbara.     Sli. 

Santa  Clara,  New  Mex 
ico.  Tan. 

Santa  Clara,  Utah.  Sho. 


Santa  Cruz,  Cali.     Mo. 
Santa  Elena.     Cso. 
Santa  Inez.      Sli. 
Santa  I/ucia  de  Acuera. 

Tim. 

Sau tee.  E.  Siu  and  Siu. 
Santiam.     Kal. 
Santo  Domingo.     Kers. 
Saponi.     E.  Siu. 
Saps.     E.  Siu. 
Saptiu.     Shap. 
Sara.     E.  Siu. 
Sarcees.     Ath. 
Saste.     Sas. 
SASTEAN.    Sas. 
Satsika.     Alq. 
Satsop.     Salh. 
Saturiwa.     Tim. 
Sauk.     Alq. 
Saumingmiut.   M.  Esk. 
Sauteux.     Alq. 
Savanna.     Alq. 
Sawakhtu.     Mar. 
Sawamish.     Salh. 
Saxapahaw.     E.  Siu. 
Sayuskla.     Ykn. 
Scatacook.      Alq. 
Sebasa.      Wak. 
Secoffie.     Alq. 
Secotau.     Alq. 
Seemunah.     Kers. 
Seguas.     Nah. 
Sekamish.     Salh. 
Sekumne.     Puj. 
Selawigmiut.  Alk.  Esk. 
Selisb.    Salh. 
Seminole.     Mus. 
Seneca.     Ir. 
Senecu.     Tan. 
Senel.     Kuln. 
Sequas.     Nah. 
Seri.     Ser. 
SERIAN.    Ser. 
Sermiligak.     Gr.  Esk. 
Sermilik.     Gr.  Esk. 
Serousbamne.     Mo. 
Serrano.     Of. 


Sesbabt.      Wak. 
Sewee.     E.  Siu. 
Sbacco.     E.  Siu. 
Sbackaconias.     Siu. 
Shahaptaui.     Shap. 
SHAHAPTIAN.    Shap. 
Shakan.     Skit. 
Sbanktonwan.     Siu. 
Shasta.     Sas. 
Sbastika.     Sas. 
Shasty.     Sas. 
Shawano.     Alq. 
Shawnee.     Alq. 
Shesbtapoosb.     Alq. 
Shetimasba.     Cht. 
Sbevwitz.     Sho. 
Sbeyenne.     Alq. 
Shibal'ni  Porno.  Kuln. 
Shingwauk.     Alq. 
Shinomo.    \  p^ 
Shinumo.    / 
Sbiwapmuk.     Salh. 
Shiwokugmiut.        Alk. 

Esk. 

Shoccori.     E.  Siu. 
Sh6doKai  Porno.  Kuln. 
Shomamish.     Salh. 
Shoos  wap.     Salh. 
Shoshokoes.     Sho.  ? 
SHOSHONEAN.    Sho. 
Shosbone.  \   ^JQ 
Shosboni.    / 
Sbotlemamisb.     Salh. 
Sia.     Kers. 
Siako.     Kuln. 
Sicatl.    Salh. 
Sicaunie.     Ath. 
Sihasapa.     Siu. 
Sikonesse.     Alq. 
Sikosuilarmiut.  M. 

Esk. 

Siksika.     Alq. 
Silets.     Salh. 
Silla.     Kers. 
Similaton.     Ln. 
Sinaloa.     Pirn. 
Sinimiut.     M.  Esk. 


Appendix 


475 


Sinnager.     Ir. 

Squonamish.     Salh. 

SIOUAN.    Siu. 

Stahkin.     Kols. 

Sioux.     Siu. 

Stegara.     E.  Siu. 

Siquai.     Ulv. 

Stehtsasamish.     Salh. 

Sisseton.     Siu. 

Stenkenocks.     E.  Siu. 

Sissipahaw.     E.  Siu. 

Stillacum.     Salh. 

Sitcaxu.     Siu. 

Stono.     Cso. 

Sitcomovi.     Ho. 

St.  Regis.     Ir. 

Sitka.     Kols. 

Subirona.     Ulv. 

Siuslaw.      Ykn. 

Subtiaba.     Sub. 

Skagit.     Salh. 

SUBTIABAN.      Sub. 

Skedan.     Skit. 

Sugan.     E.  Siu. 

Skidi.     Cad. 

Sugaree.     E.  Siu. 

Skihwamish.     Salh. 

Sugon.      Wei. 

Skiteiget.     Skit. 

Suinyi.     Zun. 

Skitsuish.     Salh. 

Suisun.     Cop. 

Skittaget.     Skit. 

Sumass.     Salh. 

SKITTAGETAN.    Skit. 

Supi.     Yma. 

Skoffi.     Alq. 

Suquamish.     Salh. 

Skokomish.     Salh. 

Suquinimiut.  Lab.  Esk. 

Skopamish.     Salh. 

Susquehannock.     Ir. 

Skoyelpi.     Salh. 

Swali.     Siu. 

Sktehlmish.     Salh. 

Swinamish.     Salh. 

Skwaksin.     Salh. 

Skwallyamish.     Salh. 

Tacame.     Coh. 

Slave.     Ath.. 

Tacatacura.      Tim. 

Sluacus  tinneh.     Ath. 

Tacbi.     Mar. 

Smoos.     Ulv. 

Taculli.     Ath. 

Smulkamish.     Salh. 

Taderighroue.     E.  Siu. 

Snake.     Sho. 

Taensa.     Nat. 

Snohomish.     Salh. 

Tagish.     Kols. 

Snoqualmi.     Salh. 

Tahichapahanna.     Sho. 

Sobaipuri.     Pirn. 

Tahkaht.      Wak. 

Sochimiloco.     Nah. 

Tahkali.     Ath. 

Soke.     Salh. 

Tah'ko-tin'neh.     Ath. 

Sokoa.     Kuln. 

Tahlewah.     Ath. 

Solteco.     Zap. 

Tahltan.     Ath. 

Songish.     Salh. 

Taiakwin.     Zun. 

Sonomi.     Mo. 

Tait.    Salh. 

Sonora.     Pirn. 

Taitchida.     Puj. 

Sonorense  Opata.    Pint. 

Takilma.     Tak. 

Sorrocho.     Tim. 

TAKII.MAN.     Tak. 

Souriquoi.     Alq. 

Taku.     Kols. 

Spirit  Lake.     Siu. 

Talamanca.     Un. 

Spokan.     Salh. 

Talamo.     Salh. 

Squawmisht.     Salh. 

Talatui.     Mo. 

Squaxon.     Salh. 

Talirpingmiut.  M.Esk. 

Taltuctun  tude.     Ath. 
Tamal.     Mo. 
Tamaroi.     Alq. 
Tamoleka.     Mo. 
Tanek.     E.  Siu. 
Tano.      Tan. 
TANOAN.     Tan. 
Tantoyoc.     My. 
Tanu.     Skit. 
Taos.     Tan. 
Tapaneco.     Nah. 
Tapijulapane.     Zo. 
Tappas.     Cad. 
Taqagmiut.     Lab.  Esk. 
Tarahumara.     Pirn. 
Tarasca.     Tar. 
TARASCAN.     Tar. 
Tarasco.     Tar. 
Tarelepa.     My. 
Tarratine.     Alq. 
Tartanee.     Skit. 
Tataten.     Ath. 
Tatera.     E.  Siu. 
Taterat.     Gr.  Esk. 
Tatimole.     Tot. 
Tatsab-kutcbin.     Ath. 
Tatu.      Yuk. 
Tauxsnitania.      E.  Siu. 
Tawakomie.     Cad. 
Taywaugb.      Tan. 
Tceme. 
Tcbeme. 
Tcetlestcan  tunne. 

Ath. 

Tchikun.     Ath. 
Tcbisbi.     Ath. 
Tcbokoyem.     Mo. 
Teacualitzistis.     Pim. 
Teata.     Pim. 
Tebaca.     Nah. 
Teco.     Nah. 
Tecojine.     Zo. 
Tecoripa.     Pim. 
Tecualme.     Pim.  ? 
Tigninato.     E.  Siu. 
Teguima.     Pim. 
Tebania.     Cop. 


The  North- Americans  of  Yesterday 


Tehanin-kutchm.  Ath. 
Tehua.     Tan. 
TEHUAN.     Tan. 
Tehueco.     Pirn. 
Tejauo.     Coh. 
Tektikilhatis.      Tot. 
Telumni.     Mar. 
Tenaino.     Shap. 
Tenan-kiitchin.     Ath. 
Tenez.     Cit. 
Tenime.     Zo. 
Tennuth-Kutclnn'.^M. 
Teotenanca.    Un.,Mex. 
Tepaneco.     Nah. 
Tepehuane.     Pirn. 
Tepozcolula,     Zap. 
Tequis.     Pirn. 
Tequistlateca.     Yma. 
Terwar.     Ath. 
Tessuisak.     Gr.  Esk. 
Tesuque.     Tan. 
Tetero.     E.  Siu. 
Teton.    Siu. 
Teuteca.     Cit. 
Tewa.     Tan. 
TEW  AN.     Tan. 
Texano.     Coh. 
Texas.     Cad.  ? 
Texone.     Coh. 
Teyas.     Cad.  f 
Tezcucan.     Nah. 
Tezcuco.     Nah. 
Thlinket.     Kols. 
T'ho.     My. 
Tientien.     Cop. 
Tigua. 
Tiguex. 
Tillamook.     Salh. 
Timoga.     Tim. 
Timucua.     Tim. 
Timuquana.     Tim. 
TIMUQUANAN.     Tim. 
Tinlinneh.     Mar. 
Tinne*.       -| 
Tinneh.      V  Ath. 
Tinney.      J 
Tionontate.     Ir. 


Tipatoldpa.     Sho. 
Tisechu.     Mar. 
Tishum.     Puj. 
Titowa.     Siu. 
Tiutei.     E.  Siu. 
Tlacopan.     Nah. 
Tlahuico.     Nah. 
Tlamatl.     Lut. 
Tlaoquatch.      Wak. 
Tlapanec.     Zap. 
Tlapaueco.     Zo. 
Tlascalan.     Nah. 
Tlascaltecan.     Nah. 
Tlatluican.     Nah. 
Tlatscanai.     Ath. 


nfU-   \Kols. 

mkit.    J 


Ath. 


Tlmkit. 
Todmtcha.     Puj. 
Tobikhar.     Sho. 
Tocaste.     Tim. 
Tockwhogh.     Alq. 
Todericbroone.  E.  Siu. 
Todetabi.     Cop. 
Tokar.     Sho. 
Tokoaat.      Wak. 
Tolemato.     Tim. 
Tolewa. 
Tolowa. 

Toi/TEC.     Nah.  f 
Tongass.     Kols. 
Tonika.     Tkn. 
TONIKAN.     Tkn. 
Tonkawa.     Tow. 

TONKAWAN.       TOW. 

Ton  to.     Yma. 
Topaidisel.     Cop. 
Topoqui.      Tim. 
Toquaht.      Wak. 
Tosikoyo.     Puj. 
Totero.     E.  Siu. 
Toto.     Puj. 

TOTONACAN.       Tot. 

Totonaco.     Tot. 
Towiachies.     Cad. 
Towakarehu.     Cad. 
Triqui.     Zap. 
Tsamak.     Puj. 


Tsawadinoh.      Wak. 
Ts'emsidn.     Chyn. 
Tshinkitani.     Kols. 
Tshokoyem.     Mo. 
Tsimshian.     Chyn. 
Tsinuk.     Chik. 
Tubare.     Nah. 
Tucano.     Pbl. 
Tucururu.     Tim. 
Tukkuth-kutchin.  Ath. 
Tukuarika.     Sho. 
Tulare.     Mo. 
Tumidok.     Mo. 
Tumun.     Mo. 
Tunglas.     Mus. 
Tununirmiut.      M. 

Esk. 
Tununirusirmiut.     M. 

Esk. 

Tunxi.     Alq. 
Tuolomne.      Mo. 
Tusayan.     Pbl. 
Tuscarora.     Ir. 
Tutahaco.     Pbl. 
Tutchone-kiitchin. 

Ath. 

Tutelo.     E.  Siu. 
Tututena.     Ath. 
Tutu  tunne.     Ath. 
Twaka.     Ulv. 
Twana.     Salh. 
Twichtwicht.     Alq. 
Twightwee.     Alq. 
Two  Kettle.     Siu. 
Tyigh.     Shap. 
Tzendal.  \  ^  f 
Tzental.  / 
Tzotzil.     My. 
Tzutuhil.     My. 

Ucalta.      Wak. 
Uchd.     Uch. 

UCHEAN.       Uch. 

Uchita.     Yma. 
Ucita.     Tim. 
Ugalakmiut.   Alk.  Esk. 
Ugaqpa.     Siu. 


Appendix 


477 


Ugjulirmiut.     M.  Esk. 

Venado.     Coh. 

Wateree.     E.  Siu. 

Uinkaretz.     Sho. 

Viard.      Wish. 

Watlala.     Chik. 

Ukiah.     Kuln. 

Vunta-kutchin'.      Ath. 

Waxhaw.     E.  Siu. 

Ukivokgmiut.      Alk. 

Wazaza.     Siu. 

Esk. 

Waccamaw.     E.  Siu. 

Wea.     Alq. 

Ukumnom.     Ath. 

Waco.     Cad. 

Weapemeoc.     Alq. 

Ukusiksalingmiut.     M. 

Wagluxe.     Siu. 

Weenee.     E.  Siu. 

Esk. 

Wahaikan.     Chik. 

Weeyot.      Wish. 

Ukwulta.      Wak. 

Wahkiacum.     Chik. 

Weitspek.      Wei. 

Ulva.     Ulv. 

Wahpeton.     Siu. 

WEITSPEKAN.     Wei.. 

UI.VAN.     Ulv. 

Waicurru.     Yma. 

Wendat.     Ir. 

Umaha.     Siu. 

Waiilatpu.      Wlp. 

Wepawaug.     Alq. 

Umanak.     Gr.  Esk. 

WAIIIvATPUAN.       Wlp. 

Westo.     Cso. 

Umatilla.     Shap. 

Waikenmuk.     Cop. 

Whilkut.     Ath. 

Unierik.     Gr.  Esk. 

Waikosel.     Cop. 

Whonkenteae.    E.  Siu. 

Umkwa.     Ath. 

Waikur.      Yma. 

Wichikik.     Mar. 

Umpqua.     Ath. 

Wailaki  (i).     Cop. 

Wichita.     Cad. 

Unakhotana.     Ath. 

Wailakki  (2).     Ath. 

Wihinasht.     Sho. 

Unalachtigo.     Alq. 

Wailaksel.     Cop. 

Wikchumni.     Mar. 

Unalashka.j^   ^ 
Unalaska.     / 

Wailatpu.      Wlp. 
Wairika.     Sas. 

Wikenak.      Wak. 
Wiksachi.     Mar. 

Unaligmiut.   Alk.  Esk. 

Wak  ash.      Wak. 

Wilaksel.     Cop. 

Uuami.     Alq. 

WAK  ASH  AN.      Wak. 

Willamat.      )    RaL 

Uncapapa.     Siu. 

Walakumni.     Mo. 

Willamette.  J 

Uuechtgo.     Alq. 

Walapai.      Yma. 

Wima.     Puj. 

Ungavamiut.  Lab.  Esk- 

Walla  Walla.     Shap. 

Wimbee.     Cso. 

Unquachog.     Alq. 

Walli.     Mo. 

Winangik.     Sho. 

Unungun.     Alu.  Esk. 

Walpi.     Ho. 

Winatsha.     Salh. 

Urriparacuxi.     Tim. 

Wampanoag.     Alq. 

Winnebago.    Siti.. 

Usheree.    E.  Siu. 

Wan  gum.     Alq. 

Wintoon.     Cop. 

Ushiti.     Yma. 

Wan  gunk.     Alq. 

Wintu.     Cop. 

Uspaiiteca.     My. 

Wapanachki.     Alq. 

Wintun.     Cop. 

Ustoma.     Puj. 

Wapanoc.     Alq. 

Winyaw.     E.  Siu. 

Uta.      . 

Wapoo.     Cso. 

Wisack.     E.  Siu. 

Utah.    1   Sho. 

Wappinger.     Alq. 

Wishosk.      Wish. 

Ute.      J 

Wappo.     Chik. 

WlSHOSKAN.       Wish.. 

Utchium.    Mo. 

Wapuchuseamma. 

Witchita.     Cad. 

Utina.      Tim. 

Kers. 

Wiwash.     Alq. 

Utlateca.     My. 

Waptimni.     Puj. 

Wiyot.      Wish. 

Uttewa.     Skit. 

Warren  nuncock.       E. 

Woccon.     E.  Siu. 

Uxmal.     My. 

Siu. 

Wolokki.     Puj. 

Wasco.     Chik. 

Woolwa.     Ulv. 

Vacissa.     Tint. 

Washaki.     Sho. 

Wyandot.     Ir. 

Valiente.     Un. 

Washita.     Cad. 

Wylackker.     Cop- 

Varogio.     Nah. 

Washo.     Wash. 

Vebetlateca.     My. 

WASHOAN.     Wash.           XICAQUK.     Un. 

Venaambakaiia.    Kuln- 

Waskiteng.     E.  Siu.          Xicayan.     Zap.. 

478 


The  North-Americans  of  Yesterday 


Xirne.     Nah. 

Yavipais.      Yma. 

Ximena.     Pbl.,  Pirn.  ? 

Yellow-knives.     Ath. 

XINCA.     Un. 

Yecpin.     Alq. 

Xicalanca.    Un.,  My.  ? 

Yesang.     E.  Siu. 

Xuala.     E.  Siu. 

Yodetdbi.     Cop. 

Yokdya  Porno.     Kuln. 

Yokultat.      Wak. 

Yaketahnoklatakmaka- 

Yokut.     Mar. 

nay.     Kit. 

Yonkalla.     Kal. 

Yakon.      Ykn. 

Yope.     Zo. 

YAKONAN.     Ykn. 

Yosemite.      Mo.      See 

Yakutat.     Kols. 

Awani. 

Yakwina.      Ykn. 

Y6towi.     Puj. 

Yamacraw.     Mus. 

Youkone.     Ykn. 

Yamasi.     Mus. 

Yuba.     Puj. 

Yamil.     Kal. 

Yucatec.     My. 

Yamkally.     Kal. 

Yuchi.     Uch. 

YANAN.     Yan. 

Yuclulaht.     Wak. 

Yankton.     Siu. 

Yuit.     Asiatic  Esk. 

Yanktounais.     Siu. 

Yukai.     Kuln. 

Yaqui.     Pirn. 

Ynke-X«A 

Yatasses.     Cad.                \  Yuki.   J 

YUKIAN.        Yuk. 

Ytikol.     Mar. 
Yukulta.      Wak. 
Yuloni.     Mo. 
Yuma.      Yma. 
YUM  AN.     Yma. 
Yupaha.      Tim. 
Yuqueyunque.     Pbl. 
Yurok.      Wei. 
Yusal  Porno.     Kuln. 
Yuta.    Sho. 


Zapotec.     Zap. 
ZAPOTECAN.    Zap. 
Ziamma.     Kers. 
Zoque.     Zo. 
ZOQUEAN.     Zo. 
Zoque-Mixe.     Zo. 
Zuaque.     Pirn. 
Zuiii.     Zun. 
ZUNIAN.     Zun. 


U.S.Nat.  Mu. 


WOODEN    SEAL-DISH,   HAIDA,    NORTH-WEST 
COAST 


INDEX 


See  also  list  of  illustrations,  page  xv. 


Abandoned  works,  meaning  of,  348 

Aboriginal  dress,  126,  133 

Adobe,  220;  brick,  234;  house,  195 

Adoption,  366,  416 

Adoratorio,  186 

Alaska,  peopled  from  S.  and  S.-B., 

457 

Albornoz,  136 
Aleut  houses,  216 
Aleutian    islands,   when    inhabited, 

457 

Aleuts,  range  of,  217 

Algonquin,  dress,  142  ;  records,  58 

Alloy  of  gold  and  copper,  301 

Alosaka,  the,  179 

Alphabet,  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  36 ; 
Cherokee,  52  ;  Sauk,  53 

Amazon  myth,  403 

America,  when  peopled,  456 

Amerind,  a  village  dweller,  247;  de 
finition  of,  2  ;  literature,  30 

Amerindian  race  composed  of  differ 
ent  elements,  457 

Amerinds  a  stone-age  people,  248 

Amnesty,  370 

Amusements,  308 

Ancient  fabrics,  108 

Antiquity  of  man  in  America,  evid 
ences  of,  434 

Antiquity  of  Mayas,  242 

Apaches  and  Navajos  remaining  be 
hind,  440 

Appendix,  461 

Aqueduct,  339 

Arch,  217,  242 

Ardnainiq,  tribe  called,  407 

Armour,  156,  255,  257 

Arrow-  and  spear-heads,  263 

Assembly  place,  412 

Astrology,  reliance  of  Aztecs  on,  373 

Astronomical,  knowledge,  .183;  reck 
onings,  303  ;  station  at  Zuiii,  306  ; 
stone,  182 

Atlantis,  15 


Atolli,  360 

Authentic  history,  beginning  of,  443 

Awatuwi,  ruins  of,  179 

Awl  game,  320 

Aztec,  books,  73  ;  cannibal  banquet, 
371  ;  confederacy,  421,  423,  424  ; 
descent,  how  reckoned,  423; 
sculptures,  184  ;  states,  govern 
ment  of,  423  ;  stone  tools,  433  ; 
towns,  238 ;  writing,  68,  69  ;  year, 
306 


B 


Bag,  sacred,  204 

Baggattaway,  327 

Baidar,  283 

Baidarka,  283 

Balance  not  known,  305 

Ball  games,  327 

Baqati  wheel,  317 

Barabara,  217 

Bark  for  rope-making,  126 

Basket-drum,  92,  311 

Basketry  hats,  147,  148,  415 

Basque,  resemblance  of  language  to 

Amerind,  32 
Bathing,  386 
Battle,  costume,  357  ;  for  a  wife,  385; 

of  Wounded  Knee,    how  begun, 

445 
Bay  eta  cloth,  how  used  by  Navajos, 

Beads,  wampum,  56 

Bead  work,  153 

Bear-mother  carving,  164 

Beckwourth,  head  chief  of  the 
Crows,  416 

Bells,  292,  301,  302 

Belts,  143 

Bird  box,  364  ;  spear,  Eskimo,  268 

Bird -stones,  175 

Bison,  disappearance  of,  333  ;  possi 
bility  of  domestication,  276 

Black  dye,  304 


479 


480 


Index 


Blanket  and  basket  designs  sym 
bolic,  58 

Blanket-loom,  124,  131,  132 

Blanket-making,  128,   133 

Blanket-pole,  162 

Blue  dye,  304 

Boats,  281 ;  Omaha,  284 

Boiling-basket,  89 

Bolas,  268 

Bologna  codex,  72 

Books,  of  Chilan  Balam,  82  ;  of  the 
Mayas,  77,  82 

Borgian  codex,  69 

Boundary  lines,  410,  411 

Bow  and  arrow,  249,  254,  256 

Bow-drill,  254 

Boxing,  326 

Bronze  tools,  299 

Buffalo  wool  blankets,  159 

Building  methods,  change  of,  200, 
350 

Bunch-word,  32 

Burial,  388 

Burning  pottery,  100 


Cactus-fruit  wine,  360 

Cahokia  mound,  342 

Cajon,  220,  236 

Cakchiquel  year,  307 

Calaveras  skull,  434 

Calculiform  writing,  73,  186 

Calendar,  stick,  305  ;  stone,  181,  305 

California  houses,  215 

Calumet,  364 

Cannibal  banquet,  371 

Cannibalism,  368 

Canoe,  dugout,  282  ;  Haida,  164,  282 

Captain  David,  140 

Captives,  treatment  of,  366 

Card-playing,  320,  326 

Carved  panthers,  180 

Carving,  162,  167,  169 

Casa  Grande,  200,  233,  234 

Casas  Grandes,  234 

Casting  metals,  301 

Cause  of  North-American  race  homo 
geneity,  441 

Cavate  lodge,  220,  228 ;  plan  and 
sections,  227 

Cedar  mats,  147 

Cement,  303,  305 

Cenote,  370 

Central-American  arts,  why  supe 
rior,  439 

Centre  of  culture,  431 

Ceremonials,  320,  376,  381 


CeVros  trinche*ras,  344 

Chac-Mool,  statue,  190 

Chaco  ruins,  230,  232 

Chalchivitl,  136 

Change  in  building  methods,  200, 
350 

Cherokee,  alphabet,  52  ;  syllabary, 
52  ;  writing,  36 

Chiefs,  416,  424;  civil,  418;  grades 
of,  424  ;  war,  418 

Chief's  office  hereditary  in  the  gens, 
424 

Chilkat  blanket,  452 

Chimney,  Puebloan,  226 

Chinook  jargon,  28 

Chirimia,  311 

Chiriqui,  pottery,  104  ;  stools,  192 

Chocolatl,  360 

Cholula,  Great  Mound  of,  350 

Chultune,  288 

Cigarette  used,  363 

Cire  perdue  process,  301 

City  of  Refuge,  456 

Civil  and  military  branches  often, 
separate,  418 

Civilised  tribes,  358 

Clan,  414;  crest,  166,  220  ;  privileges 
and  obligations  of,  419 

Classification  by  stone  implements 
impossible,  433 

Cleanliness,  386 

Cliff-dwellers,  176,  229 

Codex,  Bologna,  72 ;  Borgia,  69  ;  Cor- 
tesianus,  82;  Dresden,  82;  Men- 
doza,  72  ;  Peresianus,  76,  82  ;  Tell- 
eriano-Retnensis,  72  ;  Troano,  82  ; 
Vaticanus,  72 

Coil- process  pottery,  99,  104 

Comalli,  360 

Commerce,  375 

Communal,  buildings,  247 ;  living, 
200,  247 

Complementary  days,  306 

Confederacy,  Aztec,  421,  423,  424 ; 
Iroquois,  421,  425,  449 

Conical  cap,  148  ;  hat,  147 

Continent  peopled  before  glacial  pe 
riod,  432 

Controversy,  383 

Cooking-basket,  89 

Copan,  242,  351 

Copper,  bells,  292;  bowlder,  288;  hard 
ening,  299;  implements,  291 ;  mines, 
date  of  working,  290;  plates,  291  ; 
working,  249,  288,  291,  301 

Coppers,  162,  293 

Corbel,  arch,  242  ;  vault,  235,  237,  242 

Cord,  126 


Index 


481 


Cord-marked  pottery,   106 

Coronado,  error  in  tracing  of  route 
of,  453 

Cortesianus  codex,  82 

Costume,  133  to  144,  367 

Cotton,  128,  338 

Cotton-padded  armour,  259 

Cotton  weaving,  137 

Council,  420;  general,  420  ;  of  wom 
en,  420  ;  tribal,  420 

Councillors,  416,  420 

Counterfeiting,  49 

"  Counts  back  "  of  the  Dakotas,   60, 
377 

Coureurs  du  Bois,  451 

Covenant  chain  of  the  Iroquois  ^2 

Crest,  166 

Crops,  333 

Cross,  the,  254  ;  in  America,  63 

Crotalus,  380 

Cruciform  tomb,  3,  384  ;  ground  plan, 
385 

Cueitl,  138 

Culture  not  evidence  of  relationship 
430 

Cup-markings,  65 

Cupped-stones,  65,  272      . 

Curtains  for  doors,  205 


Daganoweda,  421 
*  Daily  life  not  bloody,  353 

Dakota  winter  counts,  60 

Dance,  around  a  cedar  tree,  315  ; 
Ghost,  316;  Rain,  364;  Resurrec 
tion,  316  ;  Snake,  376  ;  Somaikoli, 
3i8,  381,  454 

Dancing,  376,  378,  381 

Dead,  disposal  of,  388 

Death-house,  Natchez,  208 

Death-masks  in  Amerindian  pottery, 

106,  171 
'Declaration  of  war,  366 

Decoration  of  pottery,  99 

Defensive,  village,  346  ;  walls,  345 
-Deformity  rare,  366 

Degeneration  of  Yucatecs,  439 

Descent,  basis  of,  419 
—Destruction   of   Amerinds   by   Gov. 
Kieft,  444 

Details  of  Puebloan  house  architect 
ure,  211 

Dibble,  270 

Dighton  Rock,  45 

Diseases  introduced  by  whites,  229 

Distinction  between  gens  and  clan, 
419 

31 


Distribution  of,  arts,  439  ;  food,  354 
Dog,    harness,    Eskimo,   278  ;   whip, 

279 

Dogs,  276 
Dolls,  328 
Doors,  205 
Doorways,  228 

Double-headed  snake,  168,  392 
Dramatic  sense,  331 
Dresden  codex,  82 
Dress,  143 
Drill,  251,  252 
Drums,  308 
Dry-painting,  61,  387 
Dugout  canoe,  282 
Dwarfs,  races  of,  405 
Dwellings,  195 
Dyes,  303,  304 

E 

Early  advancement,  432 

Earthenware  burial  casket,  105 

Earth,  iglu,  219  ;  lodge,  202 

Earthworks,  Cahokia  mound,  342  ; 
connected  with  agriculture,  338  ; 
Etowah  group,  337,  346  ;  founda 
tions  for  houses,  338  ;  method  of 
construction,  342  ;  Newark  group, 
346 

East  Mesa,  378 

Effigy  jars,  119 

Eldorado  myth,  403 

Election  of  Aztec  chief,  424 

Election  of  chiefs,  418 

Elephant  mound,  334;  pipe,  172 

Elephant's  trunks,  190 

Elopement,  383 

Emblem  of  peace,  364 

Embroidery,  153 

Enchanted  mesa,  408 

Eskimo,  boots,  158  ;  cloak,  159  ; 
clothing,  156,  158 ;  derivation  of 
term,  32  ;  dog  harness,  278  ;  drum, 
313  ;  fuel,  275  ;  house,  217,  219, 
221  ;  lamp,  169,  274  ;  language,  36  ; 
light  from  lamp,  276  ;  not  in  Alas 
ka  500  years  back,  428  ;  southern 
range  of,  273  ;  wick  for  lamp,  276 

Estufa,  not  a  sweat-house,  375 

Etchings,  rock  -  scratchings  incor 
rectly  called,  180 

Eternal  fires,  252 

Etowah  mound,  337,  346 


Fabric-marked  pottery,  109 
Face  decoration,  366 


482 


Index 


Farming,  336 

Farm  products,  247,  338 

Feather,  garments,    134,     137,    138  ; 

mail,  134 ;  mantles,  138 
Feather-work,   method    of  making, 

137 

Feathered,  horned  serpent,  63 
Fetich,  of  what  consisting,  420 
Fire-drill,  250,  252  ;  by  friction,  368, 

370 ;  eternal,   252 
Firing  pottery,  100 
Five  Nations  (or  Tribes),  212,  425 
Flageolet,  308 
Flax,  130 
Flint  Ridge,  264 
Flood  stories,  407,  408 
Floods,  439 
Flute,  308 

Fondness  for  singing,  318 
Football,  Eskimo,  326 
Foot-races,  323 
Forbidden  food,  373 
Foreign  influence,  no,  247 
Fort  Ancient,  344 
Fortifications,  344 
Fraudulent  implements,  49 
Funeral,  jars,  112  ;  urns,  190 
Fur  companies,  methods  of,  363 


Gallantry,  387 

Gallatin's  work,  20-26 

Gambling,  323 

Games,  320 

Garments,  primitive,  126 

Garters,  133 

Gauntlet,  running  the,  366 

Genesis,  myth  of  the  Mokis,  403 

Gens,  414  ;  basis  of,  419  ;  definition 
of,  414  ;  privileges  of,  and  obliga 
tions,  419 

Gentes,  414 

Gentile  system,  414 

Georgia  costume,  141 

Gesture  language,  26 

Ghost  dance,  316,  399 

Ghost-shirt,  156,  262 

Gilded  man,  the  myth  of,  403 

Glacial  period,  cause  of,  435 

Glaciation,  duration  of,  435  ;  extent 
of,  in  North  America,  435 

Glue,  303,  305 

God-houses  of  the  Huichols,  409 

Gold,  alloy,  301  ;  plating,  302 

Government,  414 

Governor's  palace,  Uxmal,  244 


Grass  seeds  for  food,  358 
Grave  monuments,  166 
Graves,  388  ;  stone  box,  388 
Grease  feast,  162 
Great  Heads,  407 
Great  Mound  of  Cholula,  350 
Great  Spirit,  no  knowledge  of  a  sin 
gle,  375 
Gukuniatz,  397 


H 


Haida  canoes,  164 

Hair  dressing,  150 

Hall  of  Columns,  209,  246 

Hano,  establishment  of  village  of,  22 

Hard  pottery,  100 

Hardened  copper,  299,  300 

Harpoon,  267 

Hawk  bells,  292,  309 

Head  at  Izamal,  191 

Head  chief,  416 

Head  roll  for  carrying,  153 

Health,  356 

Heat,  debilitating  to  Amerinds,  439 

Helmet,  260 

Hereditary  offices,  423-424 

Hero-gods,  371,  396,  399,  401 

Hiawatha,  393  ;  in  Longfellow  and 
Schoolcraft  ranked  as  an  Algon 
quin,  395 

Hieratic  languages,  29 

Hill  forts,  344 

Hinun,  God  of  Thunder,  364 

History,    linked   with    other   races, 

447 

Hodenosaunee,  212 
Hodenosote,  200,  210 
Hollow  square  earthworks,  208 
Homogeneity,  358 
Hopewell  cache,  264 
Horse-racing,  323,  329 
Hospitality,  a  law,  354,  447 
House,  column,    162  ;    of  the   dead, 

208 ;  post,  162 
Household  utensils,  273 
Houses  on  piles,  240 
Hudson   Bay   Co.,   peaceful    success 

of,  453 
Huepilli,  140 

Human  flesh  eaten,  367,  368 
Hunt-the-button  game,  324 
Hut  of  the  Great  Sun,  208 


Ideographic  records,  48,  59 
Iglu,  217 


Index 


Iglugeak,  217 

Ikonographic  writing,  69 

Ikonomatic,  48,  69 

Imaginary  animals,  174 

Indian,  corn ,  358  ;  names,  395  ;  stocks 

or  families,  list  of,  461  ;  tribes,  list 

of,  465 

Indio  Triste,  184 
Intercalation  of  days,   306  ;  denied, 

306 

Interkilling,  381 
Internecine  wars,  229,  427 
Irish  and  Danes  in  Ancient  Amer 
ica,  429 

Irrigating,  333;  canals,  195,  333,  336 
Iroquois,  confederacy,  421,  425,  449  ; 

costume,  140  ;  house,  198,  200,  210 ; 

unsurpassed,  375 
Israelite     and     Amerindian     myths 

compared,  403 
Itzamna,  401 
Ixtlilxochitl,  443 
Izamal,  head  at,  191 

J 

Jacal   construction,  220,  236 
Jargon,  Chinook,  28 
Joint  tenements,  240 
Jossakeed,  373 


K 


Kabinapek  orchestra,  325 

Kalopaling,  407 

Karankawa,  34 

Kashim,  216 

Katcina,  47,  378 

Kayak,  281,  283 

Kishoni,  196 

Kisi  construction,  196 

Kiva,  231,  232,  325,  350,  375,  412,414 

Knives,  269 

Kwakiutl,  house  front,  239  ;  statues, 

167 
Kwokwuli,  405 


Labna,  palace  of,  450 

Labret,  355 

Lacandou  idol,  190 

Lack  of  carving  in  the  South-west, 
181 

Lacrosse,  327 

Ladders,  197,  226 

Lamp,  169,  274  ;  of  Vancouver  Is 
land,  275  ;  wick,  276 

Landa's  alphabet,  50  ;  legacy,  78 


Language,  classification,   17  ;   roots, 

18,  25 
Languages,  number  of,  20  ;  polysyn- 

thetic,  32 

Laolaxa  costume,  406 
Law  of  hospitality,  354,  447 
League  of  the  Iroquois,  421,  425,  449 
Legends,  393,  403,  405 
Leggings,  134,  143,  144,  148,  150 
Lenape  houses,  206 
Length  of  year  calculated,  305 
Limits  of  ancient  inhabitants,  437 
Linguistic  map,  33 
Long-house,  200,  210,  414 
Loom,  124,  131,  132 
Lost-Tribes-of- Israel  theory,  53,   63, 

401^  403,  429 
Louisiana  costume,  140 

M 

Main  points  of  Iroquois  organisa 
tion,  425 

Maize,  358 

Makah  house,  213 

Malignant  sprites,  405 

Man  always  the  same,  315 

Manatee  pipe,  173 

Mandan  costume,  144 

Manner  of  dying,  356 

Mantle  of  fur,  137 

Map,  Central-American  ruins,  436; 
linguistic,  33  ;  Mexican  ruins,  438 

Masks,  165 

Mats,  147 

Maxtlatl,  136 

Maya,  alphabet,  50  ;  books,  77,  82  ; 
buildings,  ground  plans,  238 ; 
chronicles,  408 ;  chronology,  242, 
3°7  i  greatness,  242  ;  house,  246  ; 
numeral  system,  83 ;  numerals, 
86  ;  paper,  77  ;  parchment,  77  ;  war 
and  rain  gods,  190 ;  week,  306  ; 
writing,  origin  of,  78  ;  year,  306 

Mealing  stones,  194 

Medicinal  remedies,  373 

Medicine-men,  371,  372 

Mendoza  codex,  72 

Mesa  Encantada,  408 

Messiah,  the,  399 

Metates,  181,  191,  194,  272 

Method  of  attaching  arrow-heads, 
265 

Methods  of  the  fur  companies,  363 

Metlatl,  272 

Mexican,  bronze  tools,  299;  cos 
tume,  134,  136,  138  ;  hardened 
copper,  299  ;  houses,  238  ;  know 
ledge  of  metals,  299  ;  mining,  299 


484 


Index 


Mezcal,  360 

Michabo,  396,  399,  401 

Mide,  society,  401  ;    songs,  58 

Migration  theory,  428 

Milk  not  used,  360 

Mining,  285  ;  by  fire  method,  285 

Misconceptions  of  the  Spaniards,  421 

Mississippi  valley,  houses,  205  ;  pot 
tery,  1 06 

Mitla,  209,  246  ;  roof  construction, 
230 

Mnemonic  records,  48,  59 

Moccasin,  134,  142,  145,  150,  159,  369 

Modoc  houses,  215 

Moki,  hair  dressing,  150,  151  ;  house 
plan,  220 ;  loom,  130 ;  method  of 
watering  crops,  335  ;  putchkohu, 
268,  270;  reservation,  447  ;  sacred 
blanket,  130  ;  throwiug-stick,  268, 
270;  women's  costume,  150 

Monitor  pipe,  171 

Monolithic  monuments,  186 

Montezuma,  legend  of,  408  ;  rank 
of,  423 

Moons  computed  to  the  year,  305 

Morgan's  classification,   14 

Mormon  protective  garment,  262 

Mortar,  246,  272 

Most  widely  spread  stocks,  443 

Mound  foundations,  242 

Moundbuilder  pipes,  172,  174 

Moundbuilders,  lack  of  skill,  174 

Mounds,  195,  206,  207,  342,  350  ; 
builders  of,  343 

Murder,  settlement  of,  381 

Musical,  bow,  308,  451  ;  instruments, 
308 

Mustache,  154 

Myths,  393,  403  ;  resemblances  to 
those  of  Israelites,  403 


N 


Nahuatls,  443.  Sec  Mexican  and 
Aztec 

Names,  derivation  of,  386  ;  indicat 
ing  totem,  420 

Natchez  temple,  207 

Navajo,  costume,  150  ;  dramatic 
sense,  331  ;  dry-painting,  61  ; 
house,  199;  loom  construction, 
131,  132  ;  reservation,  445  •  silver 
smiths,  294  ;  silver-work,  296  ; 
songs  the  most  primitive,  313 ; 
summer  and  winter  homes,  412  ; 
women's  costume,  150 

Navajos  remained  behind,  440 

Nenenot  tent,  219 


Nets,  269 

New-fire,  252,  368,  370 ;  Moki,  370 
Newark  group  of  earthworks,  346 
Nicaragua  costume,  140 
'  Night  attacks,  366 
North  growing  warmer,  443 
North-west    coast,    "coppers,"  293; 
houses,  212,  241  ;  totem  poles,  241 
North-western  tribes,  costume,  144 
Notched  doorway,  213,  228 
Numerals  of  the  Mayas,  83,  86 

O 

Object  of  Aztec  war,  368 

Observatories,  183 

Obsidian,  mines,  264 ;  tools,  299 

Octli,  360 

Oglala  roster,  387 

Okeepa  ceremony,  362,  378 

Oldest  people  of  Valley  of  Mexico, 

443 

Olmecas,  443 

Omaha  boat,  284 

Only  one  kind  of  music,  314 

Ontonagon  bowlder,  the,  289 

Opinion,  effect  of,  on  civil  chief,  416 

Oraibi  at  night,  325 

Organisation  and  government,  410, 
414 

Organisation  of  Iroquois  confeder 
acy,  425 

Origin,  migrations,  and  history,  428 

Origin  of  Maya  writing,  78 

Ornamentation  of  Yucatec  architect 
ure,  191 

Outlaws,  453,  455 


Pai  Ute  Messiah,  399 

Pai  Utes,  303 

Painting  faces,  366 

Palace  of  Palenque,  351 

Palenque    buildings,    244,  351,    404, 

Frontispiece  ;    transverse    section 

of,  210 

Palm-drill,  252,  368 
Paper  of  the  Mayas,  77 
Parallelism  of  human  development, 

396 

Patnish  and  his  band,  455 
Patolli,  322 

Peace  chiefs,  418 ;  envoys,  364 
Penn's  dealings,  358 
Peopling  of  America,  428 
Peresianus  codex,  76 
Period  of  time  since  recession  of  ice, 

441 


Index 


485 


Permanent  houses,  195 

Phonetic   element    in    Mayan    and 

Mexican  writing,  71 
Phonographic  records  of  songs,  320 
Photographs  ba^  medicine,  381 
Phratry,  414 
Pictographs,  painted,  42 
Picture-writing,  39  ;  classified,  50 
Piki  (Moki  bread),  377 
Pima  house,  199 
Pifion  nuts  for  food,  358 
Pipe,  171  ;  of  peace,  364  ;  stone,  375 
Pise,  220,  236 
Platforms,  206 
Plutnaje,  134 
Plum-stone  game,  324 
Pochotl,  360 
Poet,  313 

Pokagon,  Simon,  quoted,  449 
Pole,  sacred,  of  the  Omahas,  204 
Polygamy,  386 
Polysynthetic  languages,  32 
Popol  t/uh,  82,  397 
Population,  177  ;  before  glacial  cold, 

434 

Portable  houses,  195 

Potlatch,  162 

Pottery,  area,  no;  burnished,  100  ; 
cloisonne,  101  ;  coil  made,  99  ;  dec 
oration  of,  99,  120,  122  ;  Eskimo 
knowledge  of,  428  ;  glaze,  101  ;  in 
vented,  98  ;  preparation  of  clay  for, 

99 

Priest  doctor,  371 
Primitive,    fabrics,    124  ;    garments, 

126 ;  loom,  121 
Pronunciation,  34 
Protective,  armour,  156  ;  medicine, 

262 

Protruding  tongue,  166 
Pueblo,  207 
Puebloan,    costume,   133,    151,    153  ; 

ignorance   of  metals,  292  ;  use  of 

term,  44 
Pulque,  360 
Pump-drill,  251,  254 
Putchkohu,  268,  270 
Pyramid,  not  a  proper  term,  343,  351 ; 

of  Cholula,  350;  of  the  Sun,  350 


Quarries,  264,  273 
Quetzalcohuatl,  371,  396,  397 

R 
Rabbit-skin  robe,  130 


Rain  dance,  364 

Raised  houses,  240 

Rapidity  of  erosion  after  recession  of 

ice,  441 

Rations,  issue  of,  445 
Rattles,  309 
Rattlesnake,  centre  of  distribution, 

190  ;  designs,    188  ;    horned,    380  ; 

species,  189  ;  venerated,  63 
Recession  of  the  sea,  437 
Records  of  Tecpan,  Atitlan,  82 
Red  Cloud's  census,  60 
Red  dye,  304 
Red  pipe-stone,  375 
Red   score,   authenticity  of,  390  ;  of 

the   Lenapes,  46,  47,  390 
Rehearsal,  a,  317 
Religion,  375 
Religious  feasts,  368 
Remedies,  medicinal,  373 
Remedy  for  smallpox,  375 
Repousse"   method  of  working  cop 
per,  291 

Resemblance  to  Asiatics,  457 
Resemblances  of  Amerinds  and  Old 

World  people,  cause  of,  432 
Reservoirs,  195,  338 
Resurrection  dance,  316,  399 
Right  of  asylum,  364 
Roasting  tray,  90 
Rock,    carving,    168 ;    peckings,    42, 

168,  180 
Roof     construction,      Mitla,      230  ; 

Moki,  226 

Rope-making,  126,  346 
Round  towers,  232 
Ruins  in  Honduras  and  Nicaragua, 

246 
Running  the  gauntlet,  366 


Sachems,  duties  of,  425 

Sacred,  bag,  204  ;  buffalo-cow  skin, 

204 ;    Moki    blanket,    130 ;    pole, 

204,    383 ;    structures,    208  ;    tent, 

204,  208 ;  tipi,  204 
Sacrifice,  method  of  Aztec,  371  ;  of 

children,  Aztec,  371 
Sacrificial  stone,  182 
Sail  of  umiak,  284 
Sauk  alphabet,  53 
Sealskin,  bottles,  276  ;  floats,  267 
Secret  society,  414 
Section  of  Yucatec  building,  235 
Seminole,  costume,  154  ;  war,  445 
Sequoia,  360 
Sequoyah  (George  Gist)  syllabary, 52 


486 


Index 


Seven  cities  myth,  403 

Shamans,   371,  373,   4°8;    definition    j 
of,  372 

Shell  carvings,   174 

Shields,  258 

Shoshokoes,  8 

Sign-language,  26 

Sign  of  clan  or  gens  membership, 
420 

Silversmith's  tools,  298 

Silversmiths,  Navajo,  294,  296  ;  Tim- 
kit,  296 

Similarities  between  Amerind  and 
European  words,  25,  28 

Singing,  312,  318  ;  in  the  night,  319 

"Singing-girl,"  statue,  188 

Sisul,  1 68,  392 

Sitting  Bull,  356,  451 

Six  Nations,  425 

Skin  armour,  260 

Skull-cap,  147 

Slab  houses,  212 

Sledge,  277 

Smallpox  remedy,  375 

Smelting  ore,  291 

Smoking,  363 

Snake  dance,  376 

Show-house,  217;  iglu,  217;  knife, 
217  ;  shoe,  280;  snake,  323^ 

Soapstoue  quarries,  273,  28C  ;  ves 
sels,  273 

Sod  house,  217 

Soft  pottery,  99 

Sokns  Waiunats  and  the  magic  cup, 

403 

Somaikoli  ceremony,  318,  381,  454 

Songs  of  the  Ghost  dance,  316 

Sorceress,  371 

Sound  writing,  69 

Soyaita  ceremony,  see  Somaikoli 

Spades,  270 

Spear-  and  arrow-heads,  263 

Spindle,  126 

Spinning,  128 

Statue  of  the  Sun,  350 

Stela?,  Copan,  186 

Stock  names,  how  derived,  30 

Stocks,  17 

Stone,  cutting,  300  ;  graves,  388  ;  im 
plements  as  charms,  263  ;  statues 
in  Georgia  and  Tennessee,  176 

Stools  of  Chiriqui,  192 

Story  telling,  330 

String-drill,  252 

Sun  priests  of  the  Moki,  305 
-  Superstition,  377 

Swastika,  63,  458 

Sweat,  bath,  374;  house,  374 


Syllabary,  Cherokee,  52 

Symbol  of  the  peaceful  council  fire, 

418 
Symbolic  writing,  69 


Tablet  of  the,  Cross,  184;  Sun,  186 

Tablets,  Maya,  184 

Taensa  house,  208 

Tambourine-drum,  308,  313 

Taos,  3,  234 

Tattooing,  56 

Tchungkee  game,  328 

Tecumseh,  449 

Tegua  (moccasin),  134 

Telleriano-Remensis  Codex,  72 

Temple,  of  the  Cross,  184,  190,  244  ; 
of  the  Natchez,  207  ;  of  the  Sun, 
Frontispiece,  186  ;  of  Tepoztlan, 
242,  391  ;  of  Xochicalco,  23,  31, 
242 

Temples,  350 

Temporary  house,  195 

Tennis,  328 

Teocalli,  Frontispiece,  391 

Tepehuaje,  311 

Teponaztli,  312 

Tepoztlan,  temple  of,  242,  391 

Terms  for  describing  stone  weapons, 
263 

Terra-cotta,  figures,  112,  113,  115; 
tubing,  116,  117 

Tetzontli,  350 

Tewa,  village  of,  when  established, 
22 

Thought  writing,  69 

Thread,  126,  138 

Throwing-stick  of  Mokis,  267,  268 

Thunder-bird,  167,  342,  393 

Tiltnatli,  136 

Time  calculations,  305 

Tipi,  195,  198,  200,  204  ;  construction, 
200  ;  decoration,  202  ;  derivation 
of,  200  ;  sacred,  of  the  Omahas, 
204 

Tiste,  360 

Tlaloc,  396 

Tlapan-huehuetl,  311 

Tlaxcala,  not  a  Mexican  Switzer 
land,  423 

Tlaxcalteco  organisation,  424 
Tlinkit  silversmith,  296 
Tobacco,    28,    363  ;    pipe,    171,  363, 

364 

Toboggan,  279 
Toltecs,  443 
Tongue  in  Amerindian  carving,  166 


Index 


487 


Tools,  249 

Topek, 219 

Tortillas,  360 

Totem,   and   totemism,    386  ;    poles, 

162,  386 

Totems,  where  chosen,  420 
Totolospi  game,  322 
Towers,  round,  232 
Tozacatl,  311 
-  Traditions,  393 
Traits,  354 
Translation    of    picture-writing    by 

Mormons,  63 
Transportation,  276 
Triangular  arch,  242 
Tribal,  chief,  416  ;  organisation,  414 
'   Tribes,    change    building    methods, 

350 ;  exterminated,  445 
Troano  Codex,  82 
True  arch,  217 
Tupek,  219 
Turf  house,  217 
Turtleback  flints,  261 


U 


Umiak,  157,  282,  283  ;  sail,  284 
Unity  of  all  music,  314 
Unseen  ruins,  246 
Utahs,  costume  of  1776,  141 


V 


Value  of  a  "  copper,"  297 
Variation  in  culture,  178 
Vase  from  Labna,  74 
Vatican  Codex,  72 
Veils,  138 

Vicuna  in  Arizona,  130,  276 
Village  dweller,  8 

Villages,   location  of,  412  ;  perman 
ent,    228 

Virgin  copper,  301 
Votan,  397 
Votive  stones,  188 


W 


Walamink,  or  Place  of  Paint,  304 
Walasaxa  dance,  359 
Wall,  steps  on,  Moki,  222,  224 
Walls,  Moki,  226 


Walam  Olum,  47,  390 

Wampum,  55,  143,  418  ;  belt,  418 

War,  8,  366,  445';  belt  of  Iroquois, 
418  ;  bonnet,  145,  156,  266  ;  chief's 
office  hereditary  in  the  tribe,  424  ; 
chiefs,  418,  424;  costume,  156, 
357,  442  ;  declaration  of,  418  ;  infre 
quent,  366  ;  object  of,  with  Aztecs, 
368;  Seminole,  445  ;  shirt,  262 

Water-pocket,  405 

Waterproof,  boots,  159;  garment,  159 

Weaving,  126,  128,  137.,  141,  147 

Weighing,  305 

Whalebone  dish,  96 

Whip,  of  Eskimos,  279  ;  top,  328 

Whisky,  360,  361 

Whistles,  308,  310 

White,  brutality,  445  ;  buffalo-cow 
skin,  sacred,  204  ;  men  as  chiefs, 
416 

Wicker-work,  in  house  construction, 
234,  236  ;  plastered,  236 

Wigwam,  200,  204 

Wikiup,  195 

Wilson,  Jack,  the  Pai  Ute  Messiah, 

399 
-Windows,  228,  242 

Wine,  from  cactus  fruit,  360 

Winter  counts,  Dakota,  60,  377 

Wolf-killer,  267 

Wooden,  house,  195  ;  walls  in  ancient 
Puebloan  construction,  236 

Woonupits,  320,  405 

Wrecks  of  Japanese  vessels  on  Pa 
cific  coast,  429 

X 

Xicalancas,  443 

Xochicalco,  temple  of,  23,  31,  242 


Yant,  358 
Yellow  dye,  304 
Yokuts  houses,  215 
Yourt,  216 

Yucatec,  buildings,    ground    plans, 
238  ;  stone,  242 


Zahcab,  238,  288 
Zootheism,  375 


Li 


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